Nineteen Years Later
by Soccer Freak 101
Summary: Basically about Harry's kids. Albus gets accepted to Hogwarts and has an interesting trip into the forest with James, finding something that will change everything.
1. Hogwarts or No?

Albus Severus Potter had been sleeping soundlessly in his room for the whole entire night. He had had his father put a Muggle electric fan in his room due to the middle-of-July heat. But even that was no match. So, there he was, sleeping on the floor of his room with all of his sheets pulled off of his bed, sleeping still soundlessly.

In the room next door, there was no disturbance. Unless, of course, you count James Potter's snoring. It was really, very loud and made him sound as if he was congested. He wasn't. He just snored every night, having his father put _Muffliato _on the door so he wouldn't wake anybody.

But, unfortunately, his father had forgotten to do the spell the night before. Across the hallway, Lily Potter woke up, still keeping her eyes closed. She didn't like waking up early. It was her least favorite thing. So she groaned and turned over in her bed so she was no longer facing the wall. She opened her eyes and looked at the clock.

Six thirty.

Lily remembered how, when she was five, she used to always wake up at six thirty. Then, she would proceed to wake her brothers up. And then she would wake her parents up. And then she would wake up their dog, Padfoot, who was her best friend in the whole entire world besides Hugo Weasley.

Padfoot was a big dog with shaggy black hair. Her father, Harry Potter, had named it after his godfather who had died in battle. Lily had heard the story plenty of times before. His real name had been Sirius Black, but he had become an illegal Animagi and had earned the nickname Padfoot from his friends. He had also been apart of the Order of the Phoenix. And he had died at the hands of Bellatrix Lestrange.

The initial thought of Bellatrix Lestrange had caused Lily nightmares for weeks and weeks. The dreams, though, had finally ended when Harry told her that Bellatrix Lestrange had died at the hands of her grandmother, Molly Weasley. And after that, Molly became Lily's hero.

Lily was the youngest out of her brothers. In two years time, she was expected to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and expected herself to get sorted into Gryffindor. Her mother, father, both pairs of grandparents (two of which are dead), her God brother, Teddy, and her oldest brother, James, had been or are in Gryffindor. She had no doubt in her mind that it would be the same for her.

James's snoring grew louder and louder. The more Lily heard it, the louder it got. She groaned again.

His snoring continued in a pattern. _In…out…in…out._

Lily groaned one more time, mumbling to herself, "Why won't he just shut up?" as she sat up in her bed.

James was still snoring.

"That's it!" said Lily as stood up, grabbed her pillow, and walked into James's room. She started hitting him with the pillow continually, even after he was awake.

"Hey—what—what was that for?" James asked, sitting up in his bed after trying to dodge the blows.

"You won't shut up!" said Lily. "When will you stop snoring?"

"Never," said James. "Get used to it, Little Lily."

Lily glared, hit him with the pillow once more, and walked out.

She remembered hearing her father tell her stories of his parents. Both she and James were named after them, so technically they were Lily Potter Junior and James Potter Junior. Apparently, when her grandparents had been in school, Lily had despised James. She had thought him an "arrogant toerag" in the exact words. James, though, had continually asked Lily out, while Lily continually rejected him. That was, until seventh year, when Lily apparently agreed. And they had ended up married.

Lily Junior and James Junior were the same. They always got into fights. But, then again, Lily also admired James. He was both funny and smart.

His mother, Ginny, had told him that she was like her twin brothers, Fred and George. The only one James had met, though, was George. Fred had died in battle, with "his last laugh etched on his face" according to Harry's words.

According to Harry, James was just like his father James. James Senior was both funny and smart as well. He had been great in Transfiguration, like James Junior, and a great Quidditch Seeker, like James Junior. The only difference, though, was that James Junior had long, straight and silky red hair and brown eyes. He was the only one in the family with brown eyes.

And that was why Ginny said he reminded her of Fred and George.

Lily, according to Harry, was very much like Lily Senior. She was smart and knew where her loyalties lied. She also had red hair and emerald green eyes the shape of almonds, exactly the way Lily Senior had looked.

It was then, seventeen minutes later at six forty-seven, that James walked in to Lily's room, where Lily was lying in her twin bed, staring at the ceiling. Lily looked over to James, sat up, and raised her eyes. James pointed a finger at her.

"Because of you, I can't get back to sleep," he said. Lily smirked.

"Too bad."

James wanted to hit her. He wanted to hit her hard with a pillow at the side of her head. That would really hurt her. But the unwritten rules were very important these days, and the unwritten rules clearly stated that you can't hit a girl. James had even checked with his uncle, Ron Weasley, if the unwritten rule about not hitting a girl applied if said girl was your sister. Uncle Ron had simply laughed and had said that yes, that rule applied if said girl was your sister. He had also said, "Don't look for loopholes, because there aren't any. I checked with my twin brothers back when I was your age and told me the same exact thing."

James desperately wanted there to be a loophole in the unwritten rule.

"I'm going to get you for this, one day," said James, walking out of Lily's room. "Mark my words."

"Oh, I'm so scared," said Lily sarcastically, laughing. The door closed with a slam that Lily was sure would wake up Albus. James was inconsiderate sometimes.

Yet Albus never let anyone know if he was awake or asleep.

Lily lied back down on her bed and looked around at her room. It was a really nice room, about fifteen feet by ten feet big. The walls were painted lavender, her favorite color, as well as the color of her sheets. Her dirty clothes hamper was next to the door. Her bookshelf was in the corner, over filled with books. Her desk was at the foot of her bed, which was in the other corner of the room.

"Why do you need a desk?" James had once asked. "You haven't even started school yet."

"Well, Mum and Dad were planning on giving it to you, but seeing as you do no work, it went to me instead," Lily had answered smugly.

Finally, it was eight o'clock. That was the one time in the house that you could count on everyone to be awake. That morning, the smell of chocolate chip pancakes was throughout the house, bringing Albus downstairs immediately.

"Morning, Mum," said Albus, yawning and stretching.

"Good morning, Al," said Ginny.

"Is Dad still asleep?" 

"No, he's just answering a letter that came this morning. He should be down any minute."

"M'kay."

Albus sat down at the table. His Hogwarts letter was due to come any day now. But yet, it still hadn't come. He was starting to wonder if he hadn't been accepted, if he wasn't a wizard but was, in fact, a squib. What if he was a squib? What would everyone say? What would James say? And what about his cousin, and best friend, Rose?

James was downstairs next. As a morning greeting, he held up his hand to Ginny in a way to say hello. Ginny smirked as he sat down. James then looked across the table at Albus.

"Still not going to Hogwarts as of now?" asked James.

"I am," said Albus. "I just haven't gotten my letter yet. And neither have you."

"But I already go there, therefore, I'm already accepted," said James.

"You know, Neville said the school's a bit slow this year," said Ginny, flipping a pancake with her spatula as she spoke. "He said that there are so many new first years to send letters to that they don't have enough owls."

"Is the Defense Against the Dark Arts job still jinxed?" asked Albus.

"Ask James," said Ginny.

"Yup," James answered. "Last year, the teacher hung herself as a way to get rid of all the pressure."

Albus's eyes widened in fright. "W-what?"

"Yeah," said James. "I hear he forced his whole entire class of first years to watch it, too. Those poor first years are scarred for life."

Albus started taking deep breath. "Oh, no."

"James, for once, could you keep your mouth shut?" asked Ginny. "You're scaring your brother."

"N-no, he's not," said Albus.

"Yes, he is," said Ginny. "James, treat Albus with respect. You treat Teddy with respect."

"But Teddy's cool," said James. "Al is…Al."

"Yes, but Al is your brother."

"So? Teddy's my God brother!"

"Blood relative."

"Okay, fine, I'm sorry, Al."

Albus shrugged. "It's okay. But did the…did the teacher really hang herself?"

"No, she didn't," said Ginny. "Neville says she's a fantastic witch."

"Does she still work at Hogwarts?"

"Yes. It's going to be her fifth year."

There were footsteps heard coming down the stairs. Harry then walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, Ginny," said Harry, kissing her on the lips.

"Morning, Harry," said Ginny, smiling brightly.

"Ew, Mum and Dad, please," said James.

Harry smiled as he walked over to the table, ruffled James's hair, and sat down at the head of the table. Just then, an owl flew in with the newspaper.

"Thank you," said Harry, digging his hand in his pocket until he found a knut. After he gave the knut to the owl, which flew away, he started to read the paper.

"Any mail for me, Dad?" asked Albus hopefully. Harry looked over at his son thoughtfully.

"Al," he said, "the Hogwarts letters don't come with the newspapers, you know that."

"Yeah, I guess."

"It's sure to come soon," said Harry. "James hasn't got his letter yet, either." 

"I know," said Albus.

"Hey, where's Lily?" asked Ginny.

"I made her take a bath," said Harry. "Apparently, she had been up since six thirty and, at seven, she started to play with the dung bombs that George gave her for her birthday. It exploded on her and…well…she doesn't look her best."

Ginny gave a chuckle. "Lily," she muttered. She flipped two more pancakes before asking, "Does she need me to wash her hair?"

"Mum, I think she can handle it," said James. "She's eight."

"I know, I know," said Ginny. "Are you sure she's all right, Harry?"

"I'm positive," said Harry.

Soon, another owl flew in. It was carrying a letter for Harry.

"What is it, Harry?" asked Ginny.

"A letter from the Ministry," said Harry. The Ministry had become a very pleasurable place to work over the years. He, Ron, and Hermione all worked at the Ministry and found it to be very nice after the war with Voldemort. He, Harry, was an Auror.

"What's it say, Dad?" asked James. "Is it the letter saying that Albus is a squib?"

"Hey!"

"No…it's from Ron," said Harry. Ron was an Auror as well and liked to use the Ministry letters to feel official. "He wanted to know where we should go to get lunch today."

Ginny giggled. "Ron can be so stupid." 

The pancakes were finished by the time that Harry had written back to Ron, saying that they should go to the Leaky Cauldron for lunch. As the pancakes were laid on the table, they heard running footsteps down the stairs.

"Morning, Mummy!" said Lily once she entered the kitchen. She walked up to Ginny and hugged her around the middle.

"Good morning, Lily," said Ginny. Lily skipped over to the table, her wet hair rising up and down with each skip. So far, she was the only person that was fully dressed that morning besides Harry. Everyone else was still in their pajamas as she sat down next to Albus, but not before hugging Harry.

"Morning, Daddy," she said.

"Morning, Lily," said Harry.

Lily turned to Albus, who was sitting right next to her and putting pancakes onto his plate. "Did you get your Hogwarts letter yet?" she asked.

"No," said Albus, looking down at his plate of pancakes.

"It'll come," said Lily. "James probably got his already, right, Mum?"

"No, James hasn't gotten his yet either," said Ginny.

"Oh," said Lily. She hated being wrong.

"Dad?" Albus whispered under his breath. "What if…what if my letter doesn't come?"

"Why wouldn't it come?" asked Harry.

"What if I'm a…I'm a squib?" Albus even had trouble hearing what he was saying.

Harry smiled. "Al, you're not a squib. Remember when you were eight? James was dangling by his foot!"

"Hey, Dad, what's this?" asked James, who had taken the paper from Harry. "_Hot male wizard seeking size 2 female witch with blonde hair and blue eyes—_"

"Stop reading that, James!" said Ginny, laughing.

"Who would get that desperate?" asked James. "I know I wouldn't."

"Oh, and please, share with us about_ your_ girl at Hogwarts," said Albus, smirking while James's ears went red.

"That's none of your business," he snapped.

"James has a girlfriend?" Lily asked loudly. "Wow! Is she pretty?"

"Shut it, Lily," said James. Now his face was turning red as well.

"But I wanna _know_!" said Lily, stamping her foot. Apparently, Padfoot took that as a sign that she wanted him, so he walked over to her, barked, and panted while Lily started to scratch behind his ear.

"Well, you're never _gonna_!" said James.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because what?"

"Because I'm not going to tell you!"

"Save it, Lily," said Albus. "He's been faking it the whole summer."

"Have not!" said James heatedly.

"Have so!" said Albus.

"I have a girlfriend!" said James.

"Then what's her name?" asked Albus.

James sighed. "Fine, I don't have a girlfriend. Now just leave me alone, will you?"

Harry patted James on the back. "Its okay, James. I didn't have a girlfriend until I was in my fifth year at Hogwarts."

"And I didn't have one until my fourth," said Ginny.

"Great, my parents are losers," said James, smiling jokingly.

Ginny was now hovering over the chair that James was sitting in. "Scoot over, James."

"Why?"

"Because my spot is next to your father."

James sighed and scooted over one chair, taking his plate of pancakes with him, while his mother took her spot next to Harry.

"When do the Hogwarts letters usually come?" asked Albus.

"In the morning," said Harry. "Don't worry, Albus, you're going."

"That is if he survives the Sorting Test," said James.

"W-what do you mean?" asked Albus, leaving his fork with his pancake in front of his face while he stared intently at James.

"I mean, the test is very hard," said James. "Six students were injured. And the ones who were injured had to go back and take it again!"

"W-what happened to them?"

"They got injured again. And it kept going on until—"

"Stop it, James!" said Ginny. "That's not how the Sorting Ceremony goes."

"Will you tell me how it goes then, Mum?" asked Albus.

"It will have to be a surprise to you," said Ginny.

Harry looked at his watch as he took a bite of his pancakes. "Ah, I've got to go to work. Bye, Gin." He kissed Ginny on the lips as he stood up. "Bye James, Albus, Lily." He kissed each of them on the top of their heads as he said their names. And then he walked out of the house.

"Hermione's taking a day off of work," Ginny explained. "I'm going to be late too if she doesn't show up soon."

"Yay! Aunt Hermione's coming!" said Lily.

"Yes, she is, and I want you to behave," said Ginny. "Most importantly you, James."

"Why me in particular? Why not Albus?"

"Because Albus doesn't put Nifflers in my room."

"Why not Lily?"

Ginny looked over to Lily. "Well, Lily, I want you to behave nicely as well. No playing with dung bombs, okay?"

Lily sighed. "Okay."

The doorbell rang. Ginny got up from her seat and ran upstairs. She had forgotten to get dressed.

"I got it!" Lily yelled, running to the door and opening it. "Aunt 'Mione!"

"Hi, Lily," said Hermione as Lily hugged her around the middle. "It's nice to see you too. Where's your mum?"

"She'll be down in a minute," said Albus, who had just entered. "Is Rose with you?"

"What about Hugo? Did you bring Hugo?" asked Lily.

"Relax, you two, Ron's dropping them off in a couple of minutes," said Hermione.

"Hey, Aunt Hermy," said James as he entered the entrance hall.

"James, what did I tell you about calling her that?" asked Ginny as she ran down the stairs. She was putting in her earrings rather quickly while her hair was up in a messy bun. "Thanks, Hermione, I owe you a bunch."

"It's okay, the office owed me a day off anyways," said Hermione. "Write up your best!"

Ginny had become a writer for the _Daily Prophet_. Her stories were the top rated because she always put in the truth. She added in the extra details that no one ever bothered to really put in and always checked with the Ministry if her information was correct.

"Will do!" said Ginny as she ran to the fireplace and flooed herself to work.

"So…what do you want to do first?" asked Hermione.

"I'm going to go hang out in my room," said James.

"He's going to go send a letter to his imaginary girlfriend," explained Albus. James's face reddened as he left the room to go upstairs.

"Aunt 'Mione, can we bake a cake?" asked Lily.

"Bake a cake?" asked Hermione. "I'm not sure if your mother would be okay with it."

"Puh-lease?"

"Not today, kiddo, I'm sorry."

There was a tap on Albus's shoulder from behind. He turned around to see a girl with shoulder length straight red hair in a side-part and brown eyes was standing behind him. She was decked out in a pair of jeans (regular, not skinny) and a gray-and-white striped shirt with a white camisole underneath.

"Did you miss me?"

It was Rose Weasley, Albus's cousin. She was very smart (his Uncle Ron said that she definitely took off of Hermione) and was very interested in the Muggle fashion.

"Rose!" said Albus.

Rose smirked. "That's all you can say?"

"For now, at least," said Albus. "Have you gotten your letter yet?"

"No, I haven't," said Rose, disappointedly. "I take it you haven't either, since the time that I'm going to get it will be when you get it as well."

"I guess," said Albus. "I just—"

"Want to go to Hogwarts?"

"Of course. Who doesn't want to go to Hogwarts?"

Rose shrugged. "Come on, let's head up to your room."

As the two cousins headed up to Albus's room, a boy was talking to Lily, the newly present Ron, and Hermione. This boy had red hair as well and brown eyes. He was shorter then rose by about an inch or two and was wearing Muggle jeans and a Chudley Cannons shirt.

"So, anyways, Dad said that the Chudley Cannons wouldn't win because of their new Keeper, Brozarian," the boy was saying. "But then I said that Brozarian was the best Keeper that they could get, and apparently Dad took it the wrong way and thought that I was insulting our team. But the Cannons ended up winning. And I was right!"

"Of course you were right," said Hermione. "Your father doesn't always pay attention to everything."

"Well, I try to," said Ron. "He's just so smart."

"Dad, you should try harder then," said the boy. "But anyways, since the Cannons won the game, Dad bought tickets to their next game just to see Brozarian's form! He was a Keeper when he was at Hogwarts, you know."

"Really?" said Lily. "Wow. Uncle Ron, is Hugo right? Were you really a Keeper at Hogwarts?"

"Yeah," said Ron.

"He was a really good one, as well," said Hermione.

"He says that when he played, he won the Quidditch Cup!" said Hugo, puffing out his chest proudly. "I'm going to make the Quidditch team when I get to Hogwarts."

"Of course you will!" said Lily. "Want to go play some Quidditch outside right now?"

"Yeah!" said Hugo. "Mum, do I have my broom?"

"Ron, do you mind flooing back to get his broom?" asked Hermione.

"I'll go right now," said Ron. "But if I'm late for work because of this, it's on your head!"

"Bring Rose's as well, if she decides to play later on," said Hermione. Ron saluted her and Lily and Hugo laughed. Ron disappeared in swirling green flames. 

"How about you two go upstairs to Lily's room?" asked Hermione.

"Okay!" said Lily.

"Race you upstairs!" said Hugo, running up the stairs.

"No fair! You got a head start!" said Lily, running after him.

"Do you think he was lying?" asked Rose. "Do you really think that's how the Sorting Ceremony goes?"

"I don't know," said Albus. "Mum said he was lying, but she wouldn't tell me how it was done. She said it was a surprise."

"Yeah, my parents won't tell me either," said Rose. "It's really annoying."

Just then, James barged into the room and started looking in Albus's closet.

"Uh…come in?" said Albus confusedly.

"Ah, here they are," said James, taking out a box.

"What are you doing?" asked Albus. "My closet's a mess now because of you!"

"It was a mess earlier," said James, shrugging.

"What's that, James?" asked Rose. James turned to her.

"Ah, Rose," said James. "Long time, no see."

"It's been less than a week," said Rose, raising an eyebrow.

"It's been much too long," said James. 

"What's in the box?" asked Rose.

"Nifflers," said James, smiling from ear to ear.

"Didn't Mum tell you to behave?" asked Albus.

"So?"

"What are those doing in Albus's closet?" asked Rose.

"You expected me to hide them in my closet?" asked James. "You are so dumb."

"What else have you got in my closet?" asked Albus, getting up off of his bed to search through the closet. He was throwing clothes everywhere until he came up with another box. "What's this?"

"Careful!" said James, dropping the box of nifflers to the floor and running to grab the box from Albus. "That's my stash of Dung Bombs!"

"Is that why my room's been smelling lately?" asked Albus.

"Most likely," said James. "I've got to go. See you later." He walked to the door.

"I want you to stop putting your stuff in my closet!" said Albus. But it was too late, he was gone.

"I can't believe him!" said Albus. "He hides his stash in my closet? How thick can you get?"

"Its okay, Al," said Rose. "Calm down."

"He's just been pushing me so much lately!" said Albus. "I wish he would stop." 

"He's an older brother," said Rose. "That's what older brothers do."

"I'm an older brother and I don't do that to Lily," said Albus.

"Albus Severus Potter, calm down!" said Rose. "We're going to Hogwarts where we most likely won't see James as often as we do now. Everything will be different at Hogwarts."

"Yeah," said Albus. "I hope your right."

Hermione was sitting down on one of the comfortable lounging chairs, reading a book. She was quite relaxed and wasn't expecting anything at that moment.

So when there was a knock on the door, she flinched and jumped about a centimeter up off of the chair.

She took a breath, got up, and answered the door.

"Teddy!"

Indeed, it was Teddy Lupin. At this moment, his hair was a punk-looking black with some red streaks in it. His nose was a bit small and his eyes were green. He was wearing a pair of Muggle black skinny jeans that he kept hanging low with a chain on the side, and his shirt was gray with a black guitar on it. He truly acted like the son of a Marauder.

"Hey, Hermione," he said, smiling at her reaction to his new look. "What do you think? I'm trying out different styles now."

"Oh," said Hermione. "Well…uh…wow."

"Okay, so the skinny jeans feel just a tad tight," said Teddy. "But everything else is great with this outfit."

"Teddy," said Hermione. "If you're here to visit, I'm going to have to ask you to change."

"Why?"

"Because you'll scare Lily!"

Just then, James was passing through from the kitchen holding two boxes when he noticed Teddy. "Hey! This must be the new look you were telling me about! It's awesome!"

"See?" said Teddy. "Jamie here likes it."

"My name's James," said James.

"Well, that's my new nickname for you," said Teddy.

"Teddy, I mean it, you need to change your outfit," said Hermione.

"Okay, okay, fine," said Teddy. "But I'm keeping the hair."

With a loud CRACK Teddy was gone.

"Aunt 'Mione, why did you tell him to change his outfit?" asked James.

"Because the look didn't suit him at all," said Hermione.

"I think it looked great," said James.

"We'll see how his new look turns out in a minute," said Hermione.

As two minutes passed, there was another loud CRACK and Teddy appeared wearing jeans and a blue-and-white striped polo shirt. His hair was now blonde and his eyes were now green.

"Better?" he asked.

"Much," said Hermione. "Kids! Teddy's here!"

"Teddy!" Lily was the first one down the stairs and the first one to hug Teddy around the waist.

"Aargh, Lily!" he said, picking her up and swinging her around. She laughed.

"So you are here then," said Hugo as he ran down the stairs.

"Is this Hugo?" asked Teddy. "I haven't seen you in a week. Oh, Merlin, you grew! How tall are you? Six feet?"

"I'm barely over four feet tall!" said Hugo.

"Well, you look much taller," said Teddy. "Come here." Hugo ran up to Teddy and hugged him as well. Once he let go, Teddy turned to Hermione. "So, where are Albus and Rose? I haven't seen Rose in a while either."

"They probably didn't hear me, I'll call for them again," said Hermione.

"No, don't bother," said Teddy. "I'll go surprise them."

"So, Dad says that the Chudley Cannons have their worst Keeper yet," said Rose.

"I hear he's pretty good," said Albus. "Brozarian, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one," said Rose. "Hugo's right. He is probably the best Keeper that the Cannons can get. And to think, this came from the mind of an eight-year-old!"

There was a boom from outside. Both Albus and Rose flinched and stared at the door.

"What was that?" asked Rose.

"I don't know," said Albus. There was another boom, followed by another. "Probably James trying to set off fireworks or something."

"Yeah, you're probably right," said Rose.

The door slowly creaked open. And then, it opened so fast that it slammed against the wall. Someone with a ski mask walked in. "I have you now!" he yelled, and then he imitated an evil laugh. He jumped over to Albus and pinned him to the bed. "I have you now!"

And then, he pulled the ski mask off.

"Teddy!" said Albus.

"Ha-ha, I got you there," said Teddy. "I'm the best." He started flexing his muscles.

"Teddy!" said Rose.

"Rose? Is that you?" asked Teddy. "Wow, you've grown!"

"I'm not Hugo, you don't have to fake the act anymore," said Rose.

"Yeah, but I've been saying that since you were four. Why stop now?"

"Why're you here?" asked Albus.

"What, can't a God brother visit his God brother?" asked Teddy. Albus rolled his eyes. "Come on, Hermione says we can all go into the backyard and play some Quidditch."

"Yes!" said Rose. "Do I have my broom?"

"It's downstairs."

Albus wasn't the biggest fan of Quidditch, but he liked it enough. He smiled, grabbed his broom out of his closet, and walked out of his room with Rose and Teddy.

The day passed quickly, and soon it was dinner. Teddy decided to stay for dinner (again) and Harry invited the Weasley's to stay for dinner as well. Ginny expanded the table to seat ten.

"How's your job going, Teddy?" asked Ginny.

"I quit," said Teddy. "Couldn't stand it at all."

"So what are you doing now?" asked Hermione.

"George gave me a part-time job at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. I start tomorrow."

"Will you still be stopping by for dinner?" asked James.

"I guarantee that he'll be bringing George to dinner as well," said Ron.

"You can come to dinner tomorrow as well, if you want," said Ginny.

"Oh, that would be—" Ron was saying but was cut off by Hermione.

"We can't, I'm going to teach Ron here how to drive a car."

Rose smirked. "Dad's going to drive a car?"

"Harry, Ginny, would you mind having Rose and Hugo over for dinner tomorrow?" asked Hermione. "I'm sorry for the short notice, but would it be all right?"

"Of course," said Ginny. "They're welcome here any time."

"Yes!" said Lily. "Could Hugo sleep over after dinner tomorrow?"

"We'll see," said Harry.

"What about Rose?" asked Albus. "Could she sleep over as well?"

"We'll see," Harry repeated.

"Hey, Dad?" said James. "Could you go in the backyard with me after dinner and practice some Quidditch?"

"Trying out for the school team this year?" asked Ron. "What position?"

"Either Seeker or Chaser," said James. "Maybe Beater."

"When I go to Hogwarts," said Hugo, "I'm going to be a Keeper!"

"That's my boy!" said Ron.

"I'm going to be just as good as Brozarian! I'll practice every day!"

"I'll help you practice!" said Lily. "You'll be amazing! And I'll be a Beater when you're a Keeper!"

"Just like George," said Ginny.

"Al, are you going to try out?" asked Hermione. "You're good at Quidditch."

"I don't know," said Albus, shrugging. "Maybe next year. Besides, first years aren't allowed to have brooms at Hogwarts."

"Dad did when he was at Hogwarts, didn't you?" asked Lily.

"Yeah, but that was under special circumstances," said Harry. "Other than that, only second years and up are allowed to have brooms."

Albus blocked the rest of the dinner conversation out of his head. He didn't even know if he was accepted to Hogwarts yet, he still hadn't gotten his letter. Well, on the bright side, if he wasn't accepted to Hogwarts, he could just spend the rest of the year playing Quidditch in his backyard with Lily and Hugo. And Rose would leave him here all alone while she went off to learn magic.

_No, _he thought, _I'm going to Hogwarts and I'm going to learn magic. I just haven't gotten my letter yet. _

But what if he never got his letter?

His thoughts still bugged him in his bed while he was trying to go to sleep. It was eleven o'clock and he couldn't fall into a slumber. He was going to get his letter, wasn't he? It might even come in the mail tomorrow. In fact, he bet it would come in the mail tomorrow. He knew it. Why wouldn't it come in the mail tomorrow?

Albus sighed and closed his eyes preparing to actually fall asleep. There was nothing keeping him up anymore, except for the occasional thought that he wouldn't get his letter and he would never go to Hogwarts. There was no sound in his room and everything was completely quiet.

_Tap-tap._

Albus opened his eyes the moment he heard it. What was going on?

_Tap-tap._

Albus got out of his bed and looked to his window. An owl was sitting on the tree-branch nearest it.

_Tap-tap._

The owl tapped its beak against the window. That's what was making the noise. Albus walked over to his window and opened it. The owl flew in. Tied to its leg was a letter. Albus untied the letter from the leg carefully and looked at the yellowish, thick and heavy envelope while the owl still sat there, as if waiting for a reaction.

_Mr. A. Potter_

_Second Room Upstairs_

_7 Mames Drive_

_Charlwood_

_Surrey_

It was in a slanted green writing and gave Albus a feeling that this was it. This was definitely something important. He turned the letter over to see a wax seal bearing a coat of arms with a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. It was the Hogwarts coat of arms, Albus knew it.

He smiled to himself as he opened the letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

_of _WITCHCRAFT _and _WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Minerva McGonagall

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,  
Neville Longbottom

_Deputy Headmaster_

Albus grinned from ear to ear. He had been accepted, and all of that worrying over nothing. Why had he worried so much? There had been no need at all.

"MUM! DAD! I GOT MY LETTER!"


	2. The Train Ride and Sorting

A/N: thank you to my reviews! I didn't get many, but it's a start! I'm going to skip the trip to Diagon Alley, as I have nothing interesting planned in there. Basically, it would be the normal trip for any Wizarding family, if you can imagine what that's like. Basically, Albus gets into a couple of arguments with James, Lily wants to buy a cat but can't because Padfoot would eat it, and Rose decides to stock up on a load of books as well as Hermione does.

(Insert Epilogue here)

Albus and Rose finally sat down in the carriage after the train had turned a corner and their parents were gone. Albus sighed deeply and put his hands into his pockets. Rose looked absolutely excited.

"Can you believe it, Al?" she said. "We're actually going to Hogwarts!"

"I know," said Albus. It was quite a shocker to him, for he had been so worried over the summer that he wouldn't get to go.

"All of that worrying for nothing," said Rose. It was as if she had read Albus's mind. Albus laughed out loud.

"Yeah, I know," said Albus. "I don't know what was up with me back then."

"Well, it's natural to feel nervous," said Rose.

"I guess." Albus shrugged. He was still bothered by the fact that he might be put into Slytherin. James would ban him from his life, wouldn't he? And what would Rose say? Rose probably wouldn't care. And he knew his parents wouldn't care. He had just had that conversation with them.

"There are so many people to meet!" said Rose.

"Let them come to us," said Albus. "I really don't want to be embarrassed my first day."

"Okay," said Rose. There was silence. "I wish I could have brought my broom. Flying relaxes me from my stress."

"What stress?" asked Albus. "We haven't gone to school at all yet."

"Well, then, it just relaxes me," said Rose.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It relaxes me too."

"There are the school brooms, though," Rose suggested.

"James says that those brooms are messed up," said Albus. "Very old fashioned. Apparently, they have the Comet 260."

Rose's mouth dropped. "Seriously? Last I heard those were going to the junkyard."

"Same here," said Albus.

Just then, there was a boy at the compartment door. He was short for his age, with medium-length blonde hair and gray eyes. He was wearing baggy Muggle jeans and an orange and white striped Muggle polo shirt.

"Uh…is there anyone sitting there?" the boy pointed to a seat next to Rose.

"No, no one," said Rose. The boy smiled and put his luggage in the luggage compartment before sitting down.

"I'm Dustin O'Riley, by the way," said the boy. "Who're you?"

"I'm Rose Weasley, and that's my cousin, Albus Potter," said Rose.

Dustin nodded his head. "Nice to meet you two," he said. "So…you two come from magical families, I take it?"

"Yeah," said Albus. He would have said 'Of course' but this boy sounded as if he was a Muggle born.

"Cool," he said. "My family's not magical. That doesn't mean that I'll be behind or anything, does it?"

"Are you daft? Of course not!" said Rose. "My mother was Muggle-born, and my father said that she was the best in her year at Hogwarts."

Dustin raised his eyebrows. "Muggal?" he asked. "That sounds like a badly-named band."

"No, not Muggal," said Rose. "Muggle. Its wizard's term for non-magic folk…meaning no offense to the non-magic people."

"Oh, of course," said Dustin. "People wouldn't want to keep saying 'non-magic'. That would take_ too_ much time."

Albus and Rose laughed. Just then, James opened the compartment door and took down Albus's suitcase.

"Uh…what's in my suitcase that's so important to you?" asked Albus.

"Oh, just…things," said James, taking out a couple of boxes.

"Wait, hold on," said Albus. "First in my closet and now in my luggage? What next, under my four-poster at Hogwarts?"

"No, that'd be obvious to anyone," said James. "It's obviously under the couch in the common room."

"Well, now I can turn you in," said Albus, smiling. "I suppose Headmaster McGonagall would be pleased to hear about this."

James smirked. "What, do you honestly believe that what I just told you is where I hide my stuff? Watch your back at Hogwarts, and I mean that." James looked over at Dustin. "Hi, I'm James. I'm Albus's cool older brother."

"Dustin," said Dustin.

"Great to meet you. Now, why would you want to befriend my brother?"

"Get out!" said Albus, pushing James out of the compartment.

"Fine," said James, taking a firm hold on the box in his hands. "Just remember, this might be the last time that I ever talk to you. _You_ might be in Slytherin."

Albus turned red as James walked away from the compartment.

"Uh…" said Dustin, who seemed as if he was trying to keep up with everything. "What's Slytherin?"

"A Hogwarts house," said Rose. "People say that all of the future Dark Wizards get put into Slytherin. And there are a number of Dark Wizards from Slytherin."

"Like who?" asked Dustin. Albus and Rose looked at each other.

"Voldemort," they said in unison.

Dustin raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"I'll leave this story to Albus," said Rose. "He likes to tell it."

"He was the darkest wizard that ever lived," said Albus. "Darker then Grindelwald. When my father was one, Voldemort killed his parents. Then, he tried to kill my father but the curse backfired. All that's left on my father is a lightning bolt scar. When my father was in his fourth year, Voldemort came back from power."

"But…you said that the curse backfired," said Dustin. "So…wasn't Voldemort dead?"

"No," said Albus. "My father still won't tell me how they defeated Voldemort when he was seventeen."

"My parents helped!" said Rose.

"My mum helped a bit, too," said Albus. "Anyways, all I know is, my father died once in the battle but then returned to life. And then, Professor Longbottom pulled Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat and chopped off Voldemort's snake's head. And then, my father went into a battle with Voldemort, and he came out the champion. Voldemort had died. And there's something about some sort of Deathly Hallows in there, but it's too hard for me to tell the story and include the Deathly Hallows in it.

"Anyways, they threw the body of Voldemort into a room. James says that he's still there now and that it's his grave sight."

"Whoa," said Dustin. "Are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be serious?"

"Oh, come on," said Rose. "Do you honestly believe that James was telling the truth?"

"My parents said nothing otherwise," said Albus.

Just then, a boy was dragged into the compartment by James.

"Albus, take this first year," said James. "He won't leave me alone."

Then, James left. The first year looked excited. His hair was dirty-blonde, short, and gelled back, matching his brown eyes. He was already in his Hogwarts robes as well, just like Rose.

"I hear your Harry Potter's son!" said the boy excitedly. He walked over to Dustin. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Uh, I'm Albus Potter," said Albus. The boy walked over to Albus and shook his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Albus," said the boy. "I'm Addison Weathers."

"Well, now I'm really outnumbered," said Rose. "I'm Rose Weasley, Al's cousin."

"And I'm Dustin O'Riley, their new friend," said Dustin.

"So…it's really a pleasure to meet you, Albus," said Addison. "I can't believe I'm actually meeting you."

"Hey, hold up," said Albus. "What have I ever done for you?"

"Your father saved the wizarding community! Can I get his autograph?"

"No!"

"Addie, relax," said Dustin, making up a nickname for Addison. "He's just a normal kid."

"His father saved everyone!" said Addison.

"Calm down!" said Rose.

"Why?" said Addison.

"Calm down or leave!" said Rose.

Addison stopped jumping up and down on the balls of his feet. His luggage must have been somewhere else on the train because he didn't have it with him. So, Addison just sat down next to Albus, not looking at anyone, and was quiet for three minutes.

"So…" said Addison, "what's to do on this train ride?"

The three stared back at him as if he were crazy. "Talk," said Rose.

"Oh…well, it's just that there wasn't much of that going on for a couple of minutes," said Addison.

"That's because you made everything awkward," said Rose. She was always straight out with the truth. Most of the time, at least.

"Sorry," Addison mumbled.

Just then, James dragged in another first year, this one a girl. He let her go and the girl glared up at him.

"Here's another one," said James, shrugging. "You need all the help getting friends you can get. Maybe you can score a girlfriend."

And before Albus could say anything, James left the compartment.

"Who was that?" asked the girl. She had brown hair in two braids and one blue eye, one green eye.

"James Potter," said Rose exhaustedly.

"I'll sue him," said the girl, leaving the compartment.

"He's my brother," said Albus.

The girl walked back into the compartment. "Oh…" she said awkwardly.

"Yeah," said Albus. "Go sue him if you like, I don't care. Hex him into oblivion."

"I would," said the girl, "but I don't know any hexes. I'm Emily Finnigan."

"Finally," said Rose. "Another girl."

"My father knew yours in school," said Albus. "I'm Albus Potter and that's my cousin, Rose Weasley. Her father knew yours as well."

"I'm Dustin O'Riley."

"Addison Weathers."

"Nice to meet you all," said Emily.

"Do you have a compartment?" asked Addison.

"Yeah, it's down there," said Emily. "And I was in a very good conversation until someone's brother dragged me out."

"Hey, he's an idiot, what can I say?" said Albus.

"Good point," said Emily. "Well, I'd better be getting back."

There was a clattering outside of the compartment. An older woman slid back the door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"

"Do you have any Mars Bars?" Dustin asked immediately.

"What are Mars Bars?" asked Addison. He turned to the older witch. "I'll have a Chocolate Frog and a packet of Droobles."

"One Cauldron Cake," said Rose.

"Some Licorice Wands, please," said Albus.

"What are you all talking about?" asked Dustin. "What is this stuff?"

"Food," said Albus. "Get some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, they're fun."

"Oh, and I'll have a packet of those, too," said Emily. "Maybe I'll stay in this compartment for a little while."

After paying and receiving their treats, Dustin started to examine his food.

"It's not going to explode or anything," said Emily, who was now sitting on the floor of the compartment and having some of her treat. "They're good. Well, most of them."

"What do you mean?" asked Dustin, who had finally decided to open his and was holding one to his mouth.

"Well, I mean, they come in every flavor," said Emily. "Chocolate, strawberry, frosting—"

"Oh, yum!" said Dustin.

"—vomit, bogeys, wood—"

Dustin started to examine his jelly bean now. It was brown.

"Is this chocolate?" asked Dustin.

"Could be dirt, couldn't it?" said Rose.

"Rock flavored?" suggested Addison.

"No, that'd be gray," said Albus. "Perhaps…wood?"

"Yeah, maybe," said Addison. "Or…you know…"

"You mean they make that flavor?" asked Dustin, revolted.

"Well, it does come in every flavor," said Emily.

"I think I've lost my appetite," said Dustin, setting the beans down.

"Oh, come on," said Emily. "What's the fun of having them if you won't eat them?"

Dustin ended up eating a lot of his. The brown one turned out to be dirt. And the five of them later found out that if you eat a pepper flavored one and a grass flavored one, it tastes sort of like salad in a way. And Addison (who had stolen one of Dustin's beans) learned that when you eat a vomit flavored one, you might end up vomiting.

A couple of hours later, a prefect knocked on the compartment door and told them that they would be arriving at Hogwarts within the next hour. So, three out of the five changed into their Hogwarts robes.

Finally, the train slowed to a stop. Albus hadn't been talking for the past half hour and his breathing had become shallower.

Everyone except Albus stood up, ready to get off of the train. "What's the matter with you?" asked Emily.

"N-nothing," said Albus, standing up. Why had everyone in his family had to have been in Gryffindor? What if he wasn't in Gryffindor? What if—no, he had to stop thinking about the negatives. _Focus on the positives, Al. Come on!_

They all left their suit cases on the train as they were told and exited.

"Firs' Years!" a voice bellowed out. "Firs' years, over here!"

Just as Albus, Rose, Dustin, Addison, and Emily were walking towards the boats, James walked up beside Albus. He wouldn't face him at all. It was as if he was on his way towards the carriages.

"Have fun in Slytherin," said James to Albus, actually looking at him that time.

"Leave me alone!" said Albus as James walked away.

"Your brother doesn't know anything, does he?" asked Emily.

"No," said Albus, as they continued to follow the sound of the voice.

Finally, they reached the voice. A very big man, standing at about seven or eight feet tall, kept on repeating the line, "Firs' years! Over here!" His gray hair looked a bit wiry and his clothes were old and worn. Wrinkles covered his face, but his warm black eyes were very welcoming. Albus and Rose had known him ever since they were two.

"Hagrid!" they said together as they hugged him.

"My, is tha' you, Albus? Rose?" said Hagrid. "I swear, yeh've gotten bigger, tha's fer sure."

"It's so great to see you," said Rose.

"I's great ter see yeh, too," said Hagrid. "Come on, we'd best be gettin' on. FIRS' YEARS! THIS WAY!"

"Hey, Al, who's that?" asked Dustin.

"Oh, that's Hagrid," said Albus. "He's a friend of my dad's, like an uncle to me."

"To me, too," said Rose. "We've known him since we were two."

"Wow, he's huge!" said Addison. Albus was thanking the fact that they were now a couple of feet behind Hagrid and their voices had been hidden by all of the loud, excited chatter of the first years. "Is he a giant?"

"No," said Albus and Rose in unison. That was the last thing they wanted to get into at the moment.

It was dark down the narrow path that they traveled. Everyone was slipping and stumbling the way down. _There must be thick trees_, Albus decided_, or else there would be better light. _

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

"Whoa!" said Emily loudly as they saw their first sight. It was a magnificent view. The path opened up to see a black lake and, perched atop a high mountain on the other side of the lake was a castle with many turrets and towers. The windows were sparkling from the reflection of the stars.

"No more'n four to a boat!" said Hagrid, pointing to a fleet of tiny boats sitting in the water by the shore.

"I'm going to go," said Emily. "I'll see you at the castle!" and she left to find the first friends she had met.

"Come on, let's get in," said Rose. She got into the boat first, followed by Albus, Dustin, and Addison. Albus had stopped talking once again, as the Sorting was now nearer. What if he was in Slytherin? He didn't want to be in Slytherin at all! He wanted to be in Gryffindor!

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then—FORWARD!"

The boats started moving at once towards the castle. Dustin was highly fascinated by it all.

"Who's rowing the boat?" he asked, smiling. "This is amazing, no one's rowing the boat! And look at the castle! It's awesome!"

The castle was soon towering over all of them, and no sooner did Hagrid yell, "Heads down!" as the first boats reached the cliffs. Everyone bent their heads down as they were told and the boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. Then they were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.

_This is it,_ Albus told himself. _I'm going to be sorted in less then half an hour._

All of the first years followed Hagrid up a flight of stone steps and crowded around a huge, oak front door. "Everyone here? Good."

And Hagrid knocked on the castle door three times before it swung open. A dark-haired man with a face that looked as though it used to be much rounder than it is now. He was giving everyone a warm smile and Albus knew that this was Neville Longbottom—Professor Longbottom, he was supposed to call him. Neville had been one of the saviors in the war with Voldemort.

"The firs' years, Neville," said Hagrid.

"Thanks, Hagrid," said Professor Longbottom. "I'll take it from here."

As Hagrid was walking out, he passed Albus. "You're still coming for tea on Friday, right?"

"Yeah, of course," said Albus, although he didn't sound happy at all since he was so worried.

"James is going to come as well, and bring Rose."

Albus nodded as Hagrid walked away.

"You know, you could have at least sounded happier," Rose whispered to Albus as they walked into the entrance hall, which could have fit a whole entire house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling wasn't able to be made out it was so high up, and there was a marble staircase leading to the upper floors.

They all followed Professor Longbottom. As they passed a doorway to the right, there were hundreds of voices. The rest of the school must already be in through that door.

But that wasn't where Professor Longbottom led them to. Instead, he led them to a small, empty chamber off the hall. The first years all crowded in. Albus was standing closer to Rose then he normally would have. If he was put into Slytherin, this might be the last chance they would be able to be near each other.

"Okay," said Professor Longbottom. He pulled out a piece of parchment. "I'm new to this," he explained. "Just became Deputy Headmaster this year…and I was supposed to remember this speech. Just tell everyone I did, okay?"

A couple of the first years laughed, including Rose, Dustin, Emily, and Addison. Albus didn't laugh. He was too nervous.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor Longbottom read off of the parchment. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. And, yes, that was on the speech as well."

The first years laughed again. Albus still didn't join in. He looked up quickly at Professor Longbottom, caught his eye, and saw him wink at him. Professor Longbottom also nodded and mouthed, "You'll do good."

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor Longbottom. "Please wait quietly. That was also part of the speech."

As Professor Longbottom left, Dustin turned to Albus, Rose, and Addison.

"How do they Sort you?" he asked. "Is it a test? I didn't study."

"Well, if it is a test, your not supposed to study for it," said Addison.

"Easy for you to say, Addie, you come from a magic family!" said Dustin.

"My name's Addison!"

"Whatever!" said Dustin. "How do they Sort you?"

"You mean you don't know?" a voice said. Albus looked over to his right to see the boy that his uncle had mentioned earlier.

As a Potter, Albus had grown up hearing stories about his father's school days. And he always mentioned this one boy named Draco Malfoy, whom he had been enemies with in school. And, at the train station, Uncle Ron pointed out Malfoy Junior.

His name was Scorpius Malfoy.

Scorpius had platinum blonde hair, what must have been a Malfoy trait since Malfoy senior had hair the same color. His face was pale and pointed, and his eyes were a bluish-gray. He seemed as though he was trying to look superior to everyone else.

"And you actually know?" asked Rose. "I highly doubt that."

"Of course I know," said Malfoy. "My father's told me everything there's to know about Hogwarts. What, haven't your parents told you anything?"

"They preferred it to be a surprise," said Rose coolly. "So I'd suggest you don't ruin it for us, Malfoy."

"Oh, so you know who I am?" said Malfoy. "Well, it isn't tough to know who you are. All Weasleys have red hair. Family trait."

"I don't," Albus managed to say, "and my mum's a Weasley."

"Ah," said Malfoy. His expression softened. "So…your Harry Potter's second son I take it, right?"

"Yeah," said Albus, shrugging and trying to act cool. "What's it to you?"

It seemed, though, that Scorpius Malfoy couldn't form the words and he ended up just walking away when Professor Longbottom walked back into the room.

"We're ready for you," he said in a rush. It seemed as though he had run here. "Now, everyone, form a line and follow me!"

Albus ended up being at the front of the line since he had been the last to enter the chamber. Rose was right behind him, followed by Dustin and Addison. Emily was a few people back.

This would be interesting.

When they started to make their way, Albus felt as though his legs were pudding. He felt oddly dizzy and thought that he was going to faint at any moment.

_Come on, now! Left…right…left…right…_

Finally, the double doors opened and they entered the Great Hall. There were no words to describe how amazing it was. The ceiling matched the night sky outside, every star in the exact order as outside. There were four tables set up according to each house, littered by gold plates and goblets. Where the tables ended was one long table of the staff. Ghosts were floating randomly by students. Hundreds of lit candles were floating in midair.

Albus led the group of first years, passing James on the way who was mouthing 'Slytherin' to him. Albus couldn't glare back at him, he was too nervous.

At the front of the Great Hall, Professor Longbottom silently put up a stool, and on top of the stool he put a black pointed wizard's hat that was patched and dirty.

Albus looked back to Rose, who shrugged, and then looked at Professor Longbottom.

But Professor Longbottom wasn't looking at the students, he was looking at the hat. And it became obvious in a second.

"_After the time of darkness_

_When You-Know-Who was slain_

_I took to repeating my favorite song_

_Year after year, again and again_

_So here it goes, my favorite one_

_The returning students wearing annoyed looks_

_I hope you enjoy, it sure brings me joy_

_And after, you start learning from the books_

"_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you _

_Where you ought to be_

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindor's apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.

Albus sighed. All he had to do was try the hat on. There's no written test or anything! And he was worried about that for no reason?

He needs to stop worrying.

Albus looked back at Rose and smiled. Rose smiled back and gave the thumbs up sign. Albus laughed and returned it.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," said Professor Longbottom. He was holding a long list. "Anderson, Liam!"

A boy with short, gelled back, brown hair walked up to the stool, put the hat on, and sat down.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled through the ripped brim mouth it had. The boy smirked and ran over to the Slytherin table. The Gryffindors were booing him while all of the Slytherins were patting him on the back. Albus noticed that James was booing him the loudest. Or was it just him that was noticing? What if he was only particularly noticing James's booing because he was scared of getting Sorted into Slytherin?

"Axels, Mariah!" a girl with blonde hair in a pony-tail walked up to the stool, but not before slapping Emily's hand. She put the hat on and sat down.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted. The girl happily ran over to the Ravenclaw table. Albus noticed that Emily wasn't clapping whole-heartedly. She looked, in fact, a little upset.

"Bason, Declan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bennett, Geoffrey!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bigson, Hannah!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Again, Emily looked upset.

"Darma, Katherine" became the first Gryffindor. James was the first over to congratulate her.

Finally, Professor Longbottom called up, "Finnigan, Emily!"

Emily walked up there, as if she was half expecting/half hoping to get into Ravenclaw, since she kept on looking over at the Ravenclaw table, where here friends kept on giving her the thumbs up sign.

After two and a half minutes, the Sorting Hat yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Emily smiled half-heartedly, looked over at her friends, shrugged, and ran over to the Gryffindor table, where James congratulated her.

"Gray," "Henderson," "Higgins," and then, "Malfoy, Scorpius."

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled, and Malfoy ran over to his table.

"O'Riley, Dustin!"

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted, and Dustin ran over. James congratulated him as he went to join Emily.

After "Parson, Derek" was sorted into Ravenclaw, Professor Longbottom called out, "Potter, Albus!"

Gasps were heard all around the Great Hall. It wasn't as if he was anyone important or anything, he was just the son of a celebrity. Sure, he was used to it, but he still wished that it would stop.

His walk up to the stool was nerve-wrecking. He was sweating profusely, and he was almost shaking. He had to give his legs the extra 'urge' to make it up to the stool. After he put the hat on and sat down, everything was blacked out for the hat was covering his eyes. Now he couldn't tell if his eyes were opened or closed.

"Another Potter, eh?" said a small voice.

_Yeah, just another one,_ Albus thought nervously.

"You're smart, that's for sure," said the small voice. "And there's courage…oh, yes, so much courage. And a thirst to prove yourself…your father had a thirst to prove himself when he was at Hogwarts. Which house to put you, which house…"

_Not Slytherin, please not Slytherin, _Albus thought. He wanted to have the choice.

"Your father didn't want Slytherin either," said the small voice. "And like him, you would do well in Slytherin. But, if you're sure…GRYFFINDOR!"

As Albus took the hat off of his head and stood up, he saw the Gryffindor table applauding him. He smiled as he ran to go sit by Dustin and Emily.

"Wow," he heard James whisper in his ear. "No Slytherin?"

"Nope," said Albus, choosing to try to ignore James.

Not many students were left to be Sorted now. "Ralls, Peter" became a Gryffindor, as well as "Rolley, Hayes," "Spencer, Jacqueline," and "Spencer, Jenna."

"Weasley, Rose!" Professor Longbottom shouted.

Rose smiled on her way up to the Sorting Hat, gave a thumbs up to Albus, before sitting down and putting the hat on.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled. The Gryffindor table exploded in applauding.

"Weathers, Addison!"

Addison seemed a tad bit eager to get to the hat. As soon as he started walking up there, he tripped. The hall burst into laughter as Addison, now red in the face, sat on the stool and put the Sorting Hat on.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled. The Gryffindor table exploded into applause once again as Addison walked to the Gryffindor table.

"You made it, Addie!" said Dustin, patting him on the back.

And after that, the nickname just stuck.

"Zabini, Lisa," was Sorted into Slytherin. As she ran over to the Slytherin table, Professor McGonagall, the Headmaster, stood up. She was beaming, which Albus was surprised by since James had said that he always saw her with a strict look in her eyes and with thin lips.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" said Professor McGonagall. "Let the feast begin!"

Everyone cheered and, once Albus looked back at the table, he saw different kinds of food everywhere. There was chicken, mashed potatoes, kidney pies, everything!

"How—how did this get here?" Albus asked Rose, who had taken the seat next to him.

"House-elves," said Rose.

"What are house-elves?" asked Dustin, who was stuffing his face with pork chops.

"Elves that work for wizards," said Rose. "They don't get paid, though."

"Why not?" Dustin demanded. "They work!"

"Dustin, it's simple," said Addie. "They're under the wizarding community's control."

"Doesn't anyone think it's wrong?" asked Dustin.

"My mum," said Rose. "Still does. She started a worldwide organization called the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, also known as S.P.E.W."

"Spew," they heard James cough down the table.

"Oh, forget it," said Rose. "But, there's an address you can contact if you want to get further involved with S.P.E.W."

"Great, give me the address tomorrow," said Dustin, who started shoveling mashed potatoes onto his plate and topping it with sour cream. "Right now…I'm sort of busy."

"Wow," said Emily, who had been watching. Albus, Rose, Dustin, and Addie looked at her, but she went back to eating her mixed vegetables silently.

"What's wrong with—" Addie started to say, but stopped talking once Albus gave him a stern look.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Dustin, nodding towards a floating transparent figure at the other end of the Gryffindor table.

"A ghost," said Albus simply.

"A ghost?" Dustin asked. "But…my parents—"

"Come on," said Addie. "This is the magical world! Did you seriously doubt that there wouldn't be any ghosts around here?"

"Oh, so I suppose that unicorns are real, too," said Dustin sarcastically.

"Yeah, I hear there are some in the Forbidden Forest," said Albus. "Too bad we're not allowed in."

Dustin almost choked on his chicken wing. "Are…are you serious?"

"Yeah," said Albus. "The tail hair's really rare. Hey, Rose, don't you have the tail hair in your wand?"

"Yup," said Rose.

"So…" said Dustin, "who's the ghost?"

"Must be Nearly Headless Nick," said Rose.

"My dad says he likes do be called Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington," said Albus. "Long name."

"Wait…why's he called Nearly Headless?" asked Dustin.

"Let's ask!" said Addie. "Hey, Sir Nick!"

The white ghost turned around to look for his caller. His eyes eventually landed on Addie, who gestured for him to come over. The ghost glided over.

"How may I be of any help?" he asked. "First years, are you?"

"Yup!" said Addie proudly. "We just wanted to know why people called you Nearly Headless."

"You couldn't have been any politer, could you?" asked Albus sarcastically.

"Merlin," said Sir Nick, looking at Albus. "Are you Harry Potter's son?"

"Yeah," said Albus unenthusiastically.

"I knew your father," said the ghost.

"So did everyone," Albus muttered.

"Albus Severus Potter, I take it?"

"Yes."

"Splendid to meet you," said the ghost. "I'm Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. And you must be Ron and Hermione Weasley's child." He was looking over at Rose. "Rose Weasley, I take it?"

"Yup," said Rose proudly. "That's me."

"I'm Addison Weathers," said Addie, looking a little left out.

"Addie," Dustin coughed under his breath.

"And who might you be?" asked Sir Nick. "You don't look at all like any of the past students."

"Dustin O'Riley, come from non-magic parents," said Dustin.

"So…why are you called Nearly Headless?" asked Addie. He was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Because of this," said Sir Nick, and he grabbed his hair and pulled down. His head was now dangling on the side of his head. Rose gasped and Emily closed her eyes. Then, Sir Nick put his head up.

"Wow," said Rose. "Thank you."

The dinner soon disappeared, and were replaced with desserts. Albus doesn't know how, but for some reason he managed to have a slice of pumpkin pie. And then, after the desserts disappeared, Professor McGonagall got to her feet. The Great Hall fell silent.

"I just have a few notices to give out," said Professor McGonagall. "First off—congratulations to Professor Neville Longbottom, who is now the Deputy Headmaster." There was round of applause, and James was screaming out "GO PROFESSOR!"

"Secondly, I would like all of the First Years to note that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, hence its name, to all students. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that too." It seemed that Professor McGonagall's eyes wandered over to James, who looked guiltily over at his friends and shrugged. The girls he was sitting with giggled. Then, Professor McGonagall's eyes landed on Roxanne Weasley, who was James, Albus, and Rose's cousin. She was George's daughter and it was her fifth year at Hogwarts. Roxy gave a mischievous look and smirked. She took off of George.

"I have been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind all students that anything from the store Weasleys Wizard Wheezes is forbidden, as well as doing magic in the corridors between classes.

"And finally, Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch to find out who the Quidditch Captain of their house is.

"Now, that is all for today. Good night!"

"First years, follow me!" a voice from the end of the table sounded. Albus, Rose, Dustin, Addie, and Emily looked over to see a boy with short brown hair calling them. On his cloak he wore a Prefect badge. The five of them rose from their seats and followed the Prefect.

"So…how far to Gryffindor Tower?" asked Addie.

"Dunno," said Albus. "Probably far…maybe."

"I hear it's on the seventh floor." Emily had finally started to talk.

"Wow, so she speaks once again," said Dustin.

"Well, most people do speak, but if they speak too much, people wish that they would shut up," said Emily.

"Are you saying that I should shut up?"

"It's being implied."

"Oh, be quiet," said Rose.

"Wow!" said Dustin. He had finally seen a moving portrait. "They move!"

"Of course they move," said Addie. "They're pictures."

"Pictures don't move," said Dustin.

"Yeah, they do," said Addie.

"Well, not where I'm from, they don't," said Dustin. "They stand still."

"Really?" asked Addie. "That must be boring for the picture."

"What do you mean by boring?" asked Dustin.

"Don't ask," said Rose. "Please don't ask."

"Why not?"

"Because, it's this super-long explanation that will take forever to say," said Rose. "Do you really want to hear it?"

"I…guess not," said Dustin.

"Good," said Rose.

"Al, you've been quiet," said Emily.

Indeed, Albus had been quiet. But it was only because he was so sleepy. Why bother talking if you don't feel like it?

So, instead of a response, Albus just shrugged his shoulders and yawned.

In fact, he had been so tired, that by the time that they had walked several floors upward and a portrait of a fat lady let them in, he had barely noticed. The only thing he heard last was, "Boys, your dormitories on the left." He walked up there like a walking zombie and fell asleep on a four poster bed, not even caring to take off his clothes or to notice that his trunk had already been moved up there.


	3. Grave Site at Hogwarts

**A/N: thank you for all of my reviews! I got way more than I had gotten for the first chapters! I love all my fans! Hope you enjoy this next chapter. And just remember, it's no longer Addison, its Addie. **

It had been one of the best sleeps Albus had had since the beginning of summer. His dreams weren't good enough or bad enough to remember, and he hadn't been too hot or too cold. And also, James's snoring hadn't woken him up at all. In fact, he couldn't hear any snoring, unless you count Addie's snoring, but it wasn't as bad as James's.

The worst part, though, was when the sleep came to an end. And Addie was bouncing up and down on Albus's bed like an annoying two-year-old.

"Albus! Albus! Get up!"

"Go away," Albus muttered, turning over in his bed and shutting his eyes.

"No! Get up! Come on!"

"I can't hear you!" said Albus as he put his pillow over his head.

"Come on, Al." It was Dustin this time and he sounded as though he was in a rush. "We overslept! We're gonna be late!"

"What!" Albus sat bolt upright in his bed. And that was when Dustin and Addie started laughing at him. "What's so funny?"

"We were just kidding about the whole 'oversleeping' thing," said Dustin. "We wanted to see your reaction."

"Oh, gee, thank you for waking me up then," said Albus sarcastically. "Maybe we better skip down to breakfast just for the fun of it."

"Oh, come on, dude," said Dustin. "Addie and I were just joking."

"Yeah," said Addie.

"Well, it would have been better if you hadn't waken me up in the process," muttered their other roommate, Peter Ralls.

"Sorry, mate," said Dustin. "Didn't mean to."

"Well, it would help if you told me how much time we had left before breakfast," said Peter. He was now sitting up in his bed. He was shirtless and was showing that he had six pack abs. His long brown hair was messy and in a couple of knots, and his brown eyes were drooping.

"Uh…" Addie looked at the clock. "We've got half an hour."

"Wake me up in fifteen minutes," said Peter, lying back down and falling back asleep.

"You might want to get up now, though," said their other roommate, Hayes Rolley. He just walked out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. His dirty blonde hair was wet and he, too, was sporting six pack abs.

"Whoa!" said Addie, who had finally noticed the six pack abs. "How did you get those?"

Hayes looked down at his chest. "These?" he asked. Addie nodded vigorously. "I played Muggle sports my whole life. Mostly football. Worked out at the gym a bit."

"Do you come from a non-magic family too?" asked Dustin.

"Nah," said Hayes. "My parents just had me doing Muggle things so I could fit in a bit more. I lived in an all Muggle neighborhood, and a couple of kids thought I was really weird, so my dad signed me up for school and sports when I was five." 

"Interesting," said Albus sleepily, rubbing his eyes. He got out of bed. "I'm going to go take a shower."

After Albus took his shower, he brushed his teeth, washed his face, got dressed, and walked out of the bathroom. It had only taken him fifteen minutes in all.

Peter was still asleep.

"Wake up!" Hayes was screaming.

"I wanna sleep!" Peter mumbled, burying his face in his pillow.

"School starts in fifteen minutes!"

"Great! Tell someone who cares!"

Just then, Dustin walked out of the bathroom as well. He was holding a bucket of water.

"There you go," he said, handing it over to Hayes.

"Thank you," said Hayes. He dumped the bucket on Peter, who yelled out and fell off his bed.

"What—what was that for?"

"For not waking up!" said Hayes.

"You must know him pretty well if you can just dump water on him," said Addie.

"Known him since I was three. Our Dad's worked at the Ministry together."

"There's a Ministry of Magic?" asked Dustin. "That is so cool!"

"Yeah…amazing," said Addie sarcastically.

Peter glared at the group as he walked into the bathroom.

"So…where're you from?" asked Albus, pulling his socks up.

"Gloucestershire," said Hayes. "My mum owns a little wizard boutique around there. Only witches and wizards can see it."

"How?" asked Dustin.

"Magic, that's how," said Addie.

"Don't blame me for not knowing this stuff!"

"You've known you were magic since July, how could you not guess that magic was the answer to why no one but witches and wizards could see the store?"

"Magic can't be the answer to everything!"

Peter walked back into the dormitory with a toothbrush in his mouth. He was brushing his teeth vigorously.

"I 'ate 'oo, 'ayes," Peter said darkly.

"Same to you," said Hayes. Peter glared and walked back into the bathroom. A spitting sound was heard, and then the sound of water, then splashing water, then a towel rubbing against something, and the nothing. Peter walked back out, fully dressed in his cloak. He sat down on his bed, pulled on his socks, put on his shoes, and then stood up.

"See?" he said. "I can get ready fast. Next time, don't wake me up so early!" 

The five boys walked down to the common room, where Albus, Dustin, and Addie found Rose and Emily waiting.

"Finally," Emily muttered. "We've been down here for ten minutes."

"Sorry," said Addie. "We were all talking."

"See you guys later," said Hayes, as he and Peter walked out.

"You know, making new friends," said Addie as Albus and Dustin said their byes to Hayes and Peter.

"Personally, I can't see you making any friends," said Emily as she and Rose walked past the boys towards the portrait hole.

"Hey!" said Addie, running to catch up to them. Albus and Dustin ran a couple of paces behind him until they caught up. "I met Al and Dustin! That counts!"

"Yeah, you met them," said Emily. "Did they want to meet you?"

"Emily, stop it," said Rose. "You might scar him for life. Who knows? He might run away crying."

"I don't cry!" said Addie. "I stopped crying over things when I was six."

"And what was the last thing you cried for?" asked Emily. "Your ba-ba filled up with milk?"

"Emily, stop, you're going too far," said Albus.

Emily shrugged and turned to Rose. "So…where's the Great Hall again?"

"How am I supposed to know?" asked Rose. "Oh…hold on a second…James!"

The third year that was walking a bit in front of them turned around to reveal the face of James Potter. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Oh, stop it," said Rose, marching up to him and pushing him back a couple of steps. "Could you tell us where the Great Hall is?"

"You don't know?" said one of James's friends. "Next you won't know where the Gryffindor Common Room is."

"We're lost, not stupid," said Emily, walking up as well.

"That's to be determined," said James.

"You don't even know me."

"You don't know me."

"Well, I know that you dragged me into a compartment yesterday."

"Oh, that was you? The whiny first year? The one who had all of her friends put into Ravenclaw while you're stuck being a Gryffindor? That must be awful," he started saying sarcastically. "You're stuck with all of these stupid Gryffindors when you could be with all of those smart Ravenclaws. How depressed you must be."

Albus ran forward to hold Emily back since he had sensed that she would lunge at James. And he was right, learning along the way that holding Emily back was a harder job then it seemed.

"Are you going to tell us where the Great Hall is or not?" asked Rose.

"Why should I?" said James. "I think you should learn the hard way."

"We can just follow you," said Albus. "It's not as if we can't see you."

"Okay, okay," said James. "Just follow me…but five yards behind me! If people see me talking to first years, my rep will be ruined!"

Albus rolled his eyes as he, Rose, Dustin, Addie, and Emily followed James down to the Great Hall and sat down at the end of the table.

Professor Longbottom was handing out schedules.

"Hey, Al," he said, patting him on the back. "How do you like Hogwarts so far?"

"I haven't even gone to class," said Albus, laughing.

"What about you, Rose?" asked Professor Longbottom. "Is the castle big enough for you?"

"Ha-ha," said Rose, rolling her eyes. When she was four, she had always run around the house when Professor Longbottom was over, claiming that she would be the Queen of Hogwarts and that it should be the biggest castle in the world. Professor Longbottom had never let it go. But back then, he had told them to call him Neville.

"So, what's our schedule like?" asked Albus.

"You've got me first," said Professor Longbottom, handing the schedule over to Albus and then passing it out to Rose, Dustin, Addie, and Emily. "Then you've got Charms and Transfiguration. Tomorrow you'll have Potions, Astronomy, and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Sounds good," said Albus.

"Thanks, Professor," said Rose.

"And don't you forget it," said Neville as he turned around and hit James on the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" asked James.

"Oh, my bad," said Professor Longbottom. "Oh, hey, James!"

As those two got in a conversation, Albus, Rose, Dustin, Addie, and Emily talked about their classes.

"I hope there's not too much homework," said Emily. "I like to slack off…a lot."

"Then this school should be easy for you," said Rose sarcastically.

"Is Professor Longbottom a good teacher?" Dustin asked. "And what's Herbology?"

"You know, the study of plants," said Emily. "All of the plants in the wizarding world. We don't study roses or whatever."

"And the teacher's great!" said Rose. "Al and I have known him since we were, what, two?"

"Yeah, I think that's it," said Albus. He took a bite of his bacon. "Come on, let's get going."

And the group set off, not really knowing where they were going. It was good that they had left a half hour early, for it took them ten minutes to find the greenhouses. And then it took them another twenty to go outside by the lake.

They were the last ones there. So they started to talk, but Albus left to go join Hayes and Peter.

"I thought Herbology was supposed to take place in the greenhouses," he said as he arrived near them.

"That's what I thought," said Hayes. "Did you see the signs on the greenhouses?"

"Yeah," said Albus. "I was really mad, it only took us ten minutes to find the greenhouses! And then there was the sign that said to come here! It took us twenty minutes to find the way down here!"

The class was abuzz with chatter, and it was only ten minutes after the first bell of the day rang that the students heard the entrance doors to the school slam shut.

Neville Longbottom's walk to the front of he students was silent. No one dared to speak.

"You're allowed to talk," said Professor Longbottom. "But don't let the way my class is run affect the way your other classes are taught.

"In my class, you can call out to answer questions, and you will only raise your hand when I tell you to. Also, there will be none of this 'Professor' stuff. You will all call me Neville. And if you really want to call me a professor, call me Professor Neville. I don't want to be called by my last name. That is the last thing that I want.

"I'm not going to give much homework your first year at Hogwarts. I understand that, as first years, you're going to be adjusting to the school system. It's a hard adjustment, and I'm one of those teachers who wants to make it easier on the students. However, during O.W.L. year, I will be cracking down hard…at least, harder than I usually do.

"You guys can eat in my class if you want. I understand that on Mondays, when you will be having my class first thing in the morning, you might skip breakfast because you were out late 'partying' or whatever. So just go by the Great Hall and grab something to eat. Bring it in here. I'm no Health teacher, but skipping breakfast won't help you ace any tests or anything.

"You guys can also talk when you're doing a worksheet…you can work on it together if you want. I feel that group work will make students more comfortable instead of sitting in that awkward silence doing a worksheet and wondering whether or not you should ask me a question on what the answer is. The only time I will ask you to sit in that awkward silence and work alone will be on the written tests, which I must say we have very few of.

"Now, who's looking forward to Herbology?"

The class clapped and cheered. Dustin looked over at Albus and gave the thumbs up sign.

"Now, since it is the first day, I won't be assigning homework," said Neville. "Instead, I think that we should learn everyone else's names. So, everyone make a big circle and stand next to someone you don't know!"

"This is cheesy," said Peter to Albus. "Learning everyone's names? It's not that hard!"

But Albus, doing as he was told for Neville could probably tell who his friends were, stood next to a blonde girl and a brunette girl.

Neville was standing next to Rose, who was laughing hysterically at something that Neville must have said. "Okay, this is how it's going to work," said Neville. "I'm going to say my name out loud. In fact, I might even scream it across the campus if I feel like it. And then Rose Weasley here will say my name and her name. Everyone's job here is to repeat every name that was said before them. And then, we're going to move around and stand next to anyone we feel like and repeat the names again. Also, say what house you were in. But you don't have to repeat the houses.

"Ready?" there were various nods, and some Ravenclaw students (who were in the class with them) were giving looks as if they were too smart to do something like this. They looked as if they wanted to be given homework on the first day.

"NEVILLE!" Neville screamed. It echoed off of the windows of the school, bounced off the walls, and finally the echo died down. "And I was in Gryffindor."

"Neville, Rose," said Rose. "And I'm in Gryffindor."

"Neville, Rose, Nicko," said a blonde, freckled student that was next to Rose. "And I'm in Ravenclaw."

"Neville, Rose, Nicko, Theodore," said a brown haired student with an American accent. "But I go by Theo, and I'm in Ravenclaw."

It went on and on. Albus learned that the two girls he was next to were actually Jackie and Jenna Spencer. They were fraternal twins.

And then they mixed it up. The game seemed easy to the Ravenclaws, but the Gryffindors struggled with it a tiny bit. Addie had a bit of a blank and couldn't remember Rose's name.

And then the bell rang.

"Okay then," said Neville. "Looks like that's it. I'll see you on Wednesday!"

There were various hearings of "Bye, Neville!" and "This class is so cool!" It was actually Dustin that ran over to the group after the game was done and said, "This class is so awesome! Can you believe it? We can actually call our teacher by his first name!"

"How could you forget my name?" Rose asked Addie on their way to their next class. "It's not that hard to remember! Rose! It's a flower!"

"I don't exactly have the best memory in the world, okay?" said Addie. 

"Well that's obvious," said Emily.

"Shut up," said Addie.

"Why?"

But Addie had no answer for her, and it was a silent trip as they tried to find the Transfiguration classroom.

They ended up finding the classroom five minutes after the bell had rung.

Professor Neil was probably the youngest teacher that Albus had ever seen. She looked to be no older than twenty-five, yet her class looked to be in a strict order.

"Why are you five late?" she demanded.

"We got lost," said Emily.

She looked as if she wanted to yell, but decided against it. "Take your seats, we need to begin."

Albus and Rose managed to find a table to themselves and sat down. Scorpius Malfoy was sitting in front of them, and his chuckling was barely audible. The only reason that Albus and Rose could hear it was because everyone in the classroom was barely breathing.

"What's so funny?" Rose whispered, nudging him in the back.

"Nothing, nothing," said Malfoy. "Just a joke, that's all."

"Think it's funny that we're late, don't you?" Albus demanded. Malfoy looked at him, his smile fading, and then looked away. Just as Albus was about to hit him in the back of the head and ask him what was wrong with him, Professor Neil said, "Okay, let's begin.

"This is Transfiguration. It's not easy, so I'm not expecting much, yet I do expect you to practice every night until the incantations and wand movements are implanted somewhere where you will always be able to reach. We will have weekly essays due in order to keep this class in shape, and I do expect hard work. Any slackers will not have it easy in this class.

"I do believe in homework, so for those Gryffindors that just came from Herbology, expect your homework to make up for the Herbology homework that you don't have. And also, I go by the 'all or nothing' policy. Either you do all of the work and get credit, or you do half to none of the work and get no credit. I expect the work to be done.

"Passing notes in class is not allowed. However, I do assign monthly group projects. Either two or three to a group. Sometimes four if I'm in a good mood. Don't expect the projects to be easy. Even the easiest topic to pick can turn out to be the hardest one.

"Also, one thing I have noticed over the years is that as the students get older, they sometimes tend to point wands at one another from under the tables and hex each other. If I ever catch a student doing so, you will be on your way to Professor McGonagall's office.

"That's all I have to say. Any questions?"

The class was in a deathly silence. No one was saying anything whatsoever, as if they feared if anyone even so much as raised their hand, they would be yelled at.

The rest of the class period was spent trying to turn matchsticks into needles. Rose was the only one in the entire class to turn it into a needle.

"I'm starting to doubt the letter this school sent me," said Dustin angrily. "I can't do anything!"

"It takes practice!" said Rose. "And by the end of the class, you weren't even doing it right! You looked murderous, as if you wanted to kill anyone who told you to do it differently."

"And the school's never been wrong about a student before," said Albus. "Why would they start now?"

Dustin's mood was better by lunch. Then, by the end of lunch, they headed off to Potions.

This was, by far, the easiest classroom to find. The dungeons weren't far off from the rest of the school, but it was much easier to figure out where the classroom was.

Professor Landon looked to be in his forties or fifties. His hair was still brown, but you could see some of the color starting to fade. He had a warm look to him, yet Albus got the feeling that something wasn't right.

"Class," said Professor Landon once everyone was seated. His voice brought everyone to silence. "I am Professor Landon. And I don't want any of you going around thinking that Potions is going to be an easy class. I am anything but an easy teacher."

"Uh oh," Emily whispered to Albus underneath her breath. The two were sitting next to each other. Rose was sitting next to Dustin at the table next to theirs, and next to that table Addie was sitting with a random Hufflepuff.

"Did you say something?" asked Professor Landon.

"No," said Emily.

He smiled wickedly down at her and then warmly at the rest of the class. "As most of you might know, I am the Head of House for Slytherin. I was just appointed this year. Many years back, I was a Slytherin. I was a Slytherin in 1980. But since then, much house unity has formed. The school plans to keep it that way. So I don't want any of you coming to me saying that a Slytherin hexed you in the corridors. I won't believe it.

"Potions, as I said earlier, won't be an easy class. There are many different potions, and I highly doubt that all of you will master this art. What I want all of you to do is try. Without trying, every life is worth nothing. If we all try, we have something to aim for. Trying is the secret to success.

"Now, who's ready to get started?"

No one in the class talked. Professor Landon's eyes scanned over the classroom. And then his eyes landed on Albus.

"Ah," he said, walking over to the table that Albus sat at. "So you're Albus Potter."

"Yeah?" said Albus. Did he really look that much like his father?

"I could tell by your eyes," said Professor Landon. "I used to live in Godric's Hollow, when I was growing up. And there was a lovely couple living down the street from me…the Potter's. Lily Potter had green eyes, while James Potter had jet black unruly hair."

"My hair's not all that bad, actually," said Albus, his hand rising to flatten his hair.

"No, no, not at all," said Professor Landon. He grinned, showing his yellowing teeth. Albus wanted to look away, but under Professor Landon's gaze it seemed impossible. "Now," Professor Landon clapped his hands together and moved away from Albus. "We are going to take some notes today."

It was a surprise why no one in the class groaned at all. They all took out some parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink.

Once the end of the class bell rang after everyone had taken notes, everyone stood up from their seats, stuffed their notes into their bags, and walked out.

"Wow," said Emily. "Some messed up class."

"Tell me about it," said Albus. "How did he know my name?"

"You look just like Uncle Harry, that's why," said Rose. "It's not that hard to see."

Once they had walked out of the dungeon area, something grabbed Albus and started to drag him near the Great Hall.

"Argh! James!" said Albus.

"What? I need your help!" said James.

"And why does that require dragging me?" Albus asked, shaking free of James's grip.

"Come on, I really need your help!" said James.

"And why would_ you_ need _my _help?" asked Albus.

"Because, that's what brothers are for," said James. "And besides, you didn't get put into Slytherin. I think I need a reward for motivating you so much."

"_Motivating _me?" said Albus. "More like putting me down!"

"Well, come on!" said James, grabbing Albus's wrist and continuing to pull him. Finally, they reached a door.

"Why are we here?" asked Albus exasperatedly.

"Because, I need you to stand in that room," said James.

"And why is that?" asked Albus.

"Because I'm about to pull the biggest prank of the century, that's why!" said James, opening the door and pushing Albus in it.

"Hey!" said Albus, running to the door only to find it closed. He tried turning the door knob but it was locked. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you busted!" said James, walking away laughing. All of a sudden, Albus shivered and looked around the room. Every inch of floor, walls, and ceiling was covered in cobwebs. Albus decided that this must have been an abandoned classroom…abandoned too long ago for anyone to remember it was here.

Albus looked around. There were no desks in the classroom, and even the chalkboard was covered in cobwebs. In fact, even the tomb was covered in cobwebs.

It took a couple of seconds for Albus to register what he had just thought. Tomb? Why would there be a tomb in Hogwarts?

Albus walked cautiously over to the tomb. There was no tombstone at the head of it, but at the foot of it were some engraved words.

**Tom Marvalo Riddle**

Albus almost screamed with shock, but the only noise that was able to come out of his mouth was a tiny gasp. Tom Riddle? But wasn't he…Albus decided to read the rest of the words. There were the years lived, and then, underneath that, were four words.

**I am Lord Voldemort**

Albus did scream out loud this time. The body of the man that had killed his father's parents was in the room he was in right now. The man that had caused so much trouble to his father's years in Hogwarts.

Albus ran to the door and started banging on it as hard as he could, almost convinced that the dead body would come back to life and kill him.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! JAMES! COME BACK HERE AND LET ME OUT! LET ME—"

The door suddenly opened and Albus fell at the feet of Professor Neil.

"Well, it seems we have someone in trouble," she said. Albus got to his feet as quickly as he could and gasped for breath.

"See, Professor, I told you I didn't do it." Albus looked over to see that Professor Neil had grabbed James by the ear and was holding his head up by it. "Why would I stand in the open and watch one of my own pranks? Surely if I had pulled something I would hide."

"Perhaps, indeed," said Professor Neil, letting go of James's ear so suddenly that it took James a moment to register that she had let go of it. "But what I think is that both of you were in it."

"What?" Albus exclaimed. "Professor, it's my first year! I would never even dream of—"

"Your brother pulled a prank his first night he was here in his first year," said Professor Neil. "It's not as if I have any expectations towards the young Potters. Both of you shall receive detention. This Friday. Meet Mr. Filch in his office. Oh, and Mr. Potter, if you don't know where it is, just ask your older brother. He's been there plenty of times."

"But…but…" said Albus.

"Professor, I didn't do it!" said James. "I may be sneaky, but I'm not stupid!"

"That is to be proved," said Professor Neil, walking away. Albus groaned and pushed James.

"Why'd you get me in trouble?" asked Albus. "It's my first day here!"

"I figured you should get used to it," said James. "It'll be happening a lot more this year, I guarantee it." And with that, James walked away. Albus looked over at James, groaned, and walked away in the other direction.

**A/N: right now, I just want to clear one thing up. Someone wrote me a review saying that they hoped to read more about Lily in this one. I'm sorry, but I don't know just yet if she'll be in it as much as you hoped. And I'm sorry if this chapter seemed a little rushed, I really just wanted to get to the good part. I promise you, it's coming up next. **


	4. Detention in the Forest

**A/N: thanks to my reviewers! I hope you all like this chapter! If it seems a bit rushed, then it's because it was. I tend to like to get to the plot and then I end up stopping. So, if I stop writing and you guys don't see a chapter posted for a month or two, PM me and encourage me to write more, okay? Because I really don't want to let any of you down. **

"Detention! Yer firs' week! I would never 'ave believed it of yeh, Al."

Those were the first words out of Hagrid's mouth once Albus, Rose, and James had arrived. They had decided to not bring Dustin, Addie, and Emily for the first trip. They didn't want to overwhelm Hagrid with six people in the cabin.

"It was all James's fault!" said Albus, sitting down on one of Hagrid's overly-sized chairs. "He was trying to blame the prank on my!"

"Well, James's a head case," said Hagrid.

"Hey!" said James. "I don't get in that much trouble!"

"Yeh've set Al's pants on fire one summer!"

"That was his fault! He was standing in front of the sparklers Uncle George gave me for Christmas!"

"You were the one setting them off," Albus reminded him. "I still have the burn mark on my arse."

"But that's not the whole story," said Rose. "James forced Al into the room where Voldemort's tomb is."

Hagrid gasped. He looked at James and shook his head.

"Tha's low, James. Even fer you."

"Oh, come on!" said James. "It's not all that bad! I've been in there plenty of times!"

"Albus was scared to death!" said Rose.

"I wasn't that scared," said Albus, lying through his teeth. He had been scared out of his wits.

"Oh, come on, even I could hear you screaming," said James, "and I was pulling one of my loud pranks."

"I bet I was one of your pranks in the process," Albus remarked. "You just wanted to prove that you hadn't been lying to me all those years."

"James, would yeh put Lily in tha' room?" asked Hagrid.

"No, but Lily's a crybaby and a brat! She'd have me in trouble within two seconds of it happening!"

"Well, you're already in trouble for what you've done," said Rose. "And you've landed Albus in a detention as well for doing nothing! His first Friday at Hogwarts!"

"Don't remind me," said Albus, putting his face into his hands.

"Oh, come on," said James, walking over to Albus and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Detentions are anything but boring."

"Easy for you to say, you probably pull some loud prank within the first two minutes and ditch it," said Albus.

"I do not," said James. "That was only once, and it was with Professor Neil. I would have died!"

"Well, we're not 'ere ta talk 'bout detentions. Any'un want a rock cake?"

The three shook their heads no. They had all experienced Hagrid's cooking at last year's Christmas party, and none of them wished to experience it again.

"I'm really full, Hagrid, I'm sorry," said Rose. "I over-stuffed myself at lunch."

"I'm saving myself for dinner," said Albus. "It'll be the last meal I eat before my first detention."

"Oh, c'mon, their not that bad," said Hagrid, biting into one. You could here him crunching the solidness of what must be a cake as hard as stone.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, Al, we're hanging out tonight, right?" Dustin asked.

"Can't, remember?" said Albus. "I've got a detention."

"First Friday of the school year, too," said Emily. "What does that say about the rest of the year?"

"Oh, shut it."

"Make me."

Albus clenched his fists, sighed, and let go. Dustin hadn't been the only one asking him all day if he was busy tonight. There were plenty of people asking the same question. Hayes and Peter both asked it, since they had wanted to throw a party. But both had decided against it, though, since Albus wouldn't be able to make it. Addie had asked him five different times that day if they were all going to hang out that night, and Albus had told him five different times that day that he couldn't.

Tonight wasn't going to be one that he wanted to remember.

"Al, it can't be so bad," said Rose. "James is always in detention. And so is Roxy. If they keep on getting in trouble and going to detention, it can't be all that bad."

"That is where you're semi-wrong," said a voice. Albus looked over his shoulder to see his cousin Roxanne Weasley standing there.

"Hey, Roxy," he said.

"Wow, so he speaks," said Roxy. "First time this week, a new record!"

"I usually speak, you're just not around," said Albus.

"So…who're your friends?"

"Dustin, Addie, and Emily. You know Rose."

"Yeah," said Roxy. "I'm Roxanne, but call me Roxy."

"So…how is detention?" asked Albus.

"Depends who you're serving with," said Roxy. "If you're serving with Professor Landon, then you're most likely to sit writing lines or cleaning the Potions cabinets. If you're with Professor Neil, she'll make you sit down and do nothing. No reading, no homework—nothing."

"Sounds dead boring," said Addie.

"No, really?" said Emily sarcastically.

"If you're with Neville," said Roxy, "he'll have you down by the lake collecting stuff for Herbology while holding a conversation. And then, at some point in the interesting conversation, he'll ask you why you did what you did. If you're with Filch…well, usually he makes you clean trophies without magic. But sometimes he takes you down to Hagrid's and Hagrid will take you into the forest."

Albus almost choked. "The forest?" he said weakly. Roxy nodded. "I'm headed to Filch's office tonight!"

"Hagrid isn't bad though," said Roxy. "Sure, sometimes he has you visit the acromantulas, but that's—"

"What?" Albus said. A couple of people looked at him, and Roxy was smirking.

"Got you there," she said.

Albus scowled. "So he doesn't take you into the forest?"

"No, he does. But you don't visit the acromantulas."

Dinner was cut short when James pulled on the back of Albus's robes and dragging him along until Albus straightened himself up.

"You've got to stop doing that," said Albus, straightening his robes.

"Sorry, no," said James, shrugging. Albus groaned.

"So…where is Filch's office?"

"Down here," said James.

"Wow, and I always took you for one who skipped detention."

"I only skip on Saturday's, when my friends and I are out doing fun stuff."

"Like what? Hitting on first years?"

James shoved him and kept on walking.

"We'll be with Hagrid tonight," said James casually, looking at his nails.

"How do you know that?" asked Albus.

"Extendable ears," said James simply. "I overheard Professor Neil say my name while I was walking past her classroom today, so I took them out and…well…now we know."

"Amazing," said Albus tiredly. Finally, they had reached Filch's door. On the wooden door were carved-in names and sayings.

**Gryffindor's suck!**

**Kill the Mudbloods!**

**Sirius Black is the hottest man alive.**

**Slytherin's should be banned from Hogwarts!**

**Mudbloood is a bad word!**

**James Potter is a god!!!**

Albus looked at James when he read that, who smirked and said, "That wasn't me who wrote that. That was our dead grandfather."

Albus opened his mouth in understanding and nodded. James shrugged and opened the door.

"I'm surprised, Potter," said a voice from behind a desk. Albus looked into the face of what must be Mr. Filch. His voice was scratchy, his face looked a bit sunken as if he hadn't slept in a while, and his long, dark gray hair looked as if it had never been brushed before. "You're actually on time tonight."

"Well, I figured I'd start the year off nicely," said James, shrugging. "So, what's planned for tonight?"

"You'll be serving with Hagrid tonight," said Filch, smiling a crooked smile that showed his yellow teeth, one of which had been replaced with a gold tooth. Albus's eyes widened in fear. That meant that they were going to go into the forest. "Scared, Potter?"

"No," Albus lied. He decided to shake off his feeling of fear. He had known Hagrid since before he could remember. If there was anyone that he would rather serve detention with, it was Hagrid.

Then how come Albus had trouble believing that himself.

The walk down to Hagrid's cabin would have been a silent, deathly awkward walk, if James hadn't decided to pick a fight with Albus.

"I'm telling you, Puddlemere United has the World Cup this year!"

"No way, James! That's not possible! Ireland is going to get it this year."

"What makes you say that? You're Irish girlfriend?"

"Emily is not my girlfriend!"

"It seems like it! And if Rose wasn't our cousin, I would say that you would end up with Rose."

"I would not!"

"Would so!"

"What's it matter? There is no possible way I could end up with Rose. She's our cousin!"

"Which is why you'll end up with Emily!"

"I don't even like her!"

"What's that matter? Relationships are better when you don't like the other person."

"Who told you that?"

"Uncle Ron. He said that because then, it's all physical."

"But he ended up with Aunt Hermione."

"Yeah, well, he said true love was great, too. And that's why you'll end up with Emily."

"I've only known her a week!"

"And in seven years, you'll have known her for seven years. See how that works?"

And before Albus could reply, they had arrived at Hagrid's cabin.

"'Bout bloody time," said Hagrid. "Get goin', Filch, I've got a detention ta give."

"Very well," said Filch, giving a dirty look to Hagrid and then two more to James and Albus before leaving.

"This really can' be a great way to start off at Hogwarts, can it?" asked Hagrid. "C'mon, we're goin' inter the forest."

"Great, so Roxy was right," said Albus.

"Geez, Al," said James as the three of them started to walk into the forest. "First you're scared of not getting accepted to Hogwarts, then you're scared of not getting into Gryffindor, and now you're scared of going into the forest? Maybe you should be in Hufflepuff or something."

Albus started to try and tackle James, but Hagrid held him back.

"No need ter try an' start a fight, now," said Hagrid. "An' James, there's nothin' wrong wi' Hufflepuff."

"I know," said James exasperatedly. "I'm not seven; you don't have to tell me this stuff anymore."

"But if I don't tell yeh, yeh never learn!" said Hagrid.

"Now you sound like my dad," said James. "He's always telling me what to do."

There was silence after that.

"So…what are we going into the forest to do, Hagrid?" asked Albus, trying to hide his fear.

"We're gonna collect the seeds of a Lipistle," said Hagrid. "Very rare, so we may be out long inter the night."

"Isn't there some kid at our school with the last name Lipistle?" asked James.

"Yeah, her name's Joanna," said Albus. "She's in Ravenclaw."

"So is your girlfriend depressed not to be with her?"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"She is so!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"IS NOT!"

Birds flew out of the nearest tree in fright.

"IS—" but James never got to finish his statement, for he was shushed that very moment by Hagrid.

"What's going on?" asked Albus quietly in barely a whisper.

"Shh," said Hagrid. More silence followed. "Hold on…"

Hooves were pounding at the ground, causing the ground to shake. Hagrid squinted his eyes forward to where the thunderous sounds were coming from and soon, his eyes widened in fright.

"CENTAUR STAMPEDE!" shouted Hagrid.

But the three didn't have any time to run away, so they had to dodge out of the way in different directions.

"HAGRID!" Albus yelled through the stampede. Apparently there were many centaurs in the forest, for the stampede went on for a while. Albus and James decided to run down to the end of the stampede and try to find Hagrid.

But Hagrid wasn't there.

"Should we shout for him?" asked Albus.

"Shouting is the worst idea," said James. "There's a lot in this forest. Centaurs are only one thing. Who knows what else there is?"

"So what should we do?" asked Albus.

"Find a way out," said James. "That would be best."

But they had lost their sense of direction in the forest, for they couldn't find the trail anymore. And it seemed that they were only going deeper into the forest, for the trees were getting thicker and thicker.

"Maybe we should turn back," said Albus. "Aren't trees in the middle of a forest always thicker then the ones on the outside?"

"And who're you to say that?" asked James, but he too looked scared. "Perhaps you're right…maybe we should go back."

So they started heading back the way they came. At the slightest sound, Albus and James would both jump, James later pretending that he had not been scared at all.

James lit his wand and kept on searching for a way out.

"Can't you light you're wand, Al?" he asked. "My wands not bright enough by itself."

"I haven't gotten that far yet," said Albus. "I'm only a week in, remember?"

"Just try the incantation—_Lumos_—see what happens."

Albus tried the incantation, and on his third try he got it right, although his light was much dimmer than James's. The two continued walking, looking behind them occasionally. Albus had a feeling that someone was watching them.

"This doesn't feel right," said Albus, looking behind them once more to see just bushes and trees with roots coming above the ground. "Why do I feel like I'm being followed?"

"Maybe because you are," said James lightly as they continued walking.

"W-what?" said Albus. "W-what do you mean?"

"Think about it, Al," said James, turning to Albus and pointing his lit wand at him. "You're all alone in the forest, which is the home to unicorns and centaurs and maybe even werewolves and giants, I don't know. But, for all we do know, you are being followed."

Albus kept on looking behind them every other second as they continued to walk.

"James, are you sure I'm being followed?" asked Albus once they were in a clear area, looking over to where James should be but wasn't. "J-James? James, where are you?"

There was a howling noise off to Albus's left. Albus looked over to see nothing, but then he heard a couple of breaking twigs. Albus looked up at the sky and saw the full moon between the thick branches of the trees.

"Oh, no," said Albus. He shivered in fright, turning around in a circle. "James? James, where are you? I think there's a werewolf—"

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Albus screamed and ran for cover behind a tree. A couple of seconds later, he heard laughing.

"Relax, Al, it's me."

Albus peeked out from behind the tree to see James doubling over in hysterics.

"James?" asked Albus furiously.

"Oh, Merlin, you should have seen your face!" said James, cracking up still. "You were white as a unicorn!"

Albus's face turned red, and he had no idea what he was doing as he tackled James to the ground and started wrestling him.

"You—are—the—WORST—brother—ever!" said Albus between pants.

"Come off it!" said James, rolling over so Albus was now on the bottom.

"Ow!" said Albus.

"Aw, did I hurt you?" James baby-mocked.

Before Albus could say another word, he punched James in the chest, causing James to get off of him.

"Stop it," said Albus, before James could tackle him again. "There's something underneath me."

Albus sat up and turned around to find a ring half-sticking up out of the dirt. The stone in the ring was cracked, and a coat of arms was engraved on either side of the stone.

"Wow," said Albus, examining the ring and turning it over in his fingers.

"Let me see it!" said James suddenly, grabbing it out of his hands.

"Hey, it's mine!" said Albus, jumping to his feet to try and grab it back out of James's hands.

"Oh, look, it's a ring," said James. "Going to wear that on your wedding day?"

"Give it here!" said Albus, but James was pushing Albus's head with one hand and holding the ring out of reach with the other.

"The stone's cracked, I don't think Emily will like it at all," said James.

"It's not for Emily, I just found it on the ground—"

"And what's this? A coat of arms—" James fell silent as his eyes widened at the sight of the coat of arms. "No…"

"Give it here James!" said Albus, and James must have forgotten that he was keeping a firm hold on Albus, because Albus nearly tackled James to the ground once more that night while he was trying to get the ring.

"Give it to me, James!" said Albus.

"It's not yours to keep!" said James worriedly.

"And who're you to care? I found it!"

"No!" said James firmly, standing up and pocketing the ring. "You're not going to touch this ring. Especially not here…definitely not here."

Albus glared at James. "Fine then, back at the castle. Now how to we find Hagrid?"

James sent red sparks into the sky, and Hagrid came booming through within minutes.

"There yeh two are!" said Hagrid. "Bin lookin' fer yeh's all night!"

"It was the stampede, Hagrid," said Albus, trying to explain out of desperation. "We couldn't find you—please don't get mad at us—"

"Its jus' one o' many detentions," said Hagrid. "Well, I'm not sure 'bout you, Albus, but I'm pretty sure 'bout James."

"Isn't everybody?" said James sarcastically.

"C'mon," said Hagrid. "Le's get yeh two outta here. It's not safe this time o' night. And we'll jus' tell Filch that we couldn' find none."

Albus had almost forgotten that they had come into the forest in the first place looking for the seeds of a Lipistle.

"I'm sorry, Hagrid," said Albus.

"It's okay," said Hagrid. "Why didn' yeh jus' send sparks up a bit earlier, though, eh?"

"Because I didn't know we were supposed to," said Albus.

"And I just forgot," said James.

"Typical," Hagrid muttered, earning a shove from James.

"Come on! You know I don't do well under pressure!" said James.

"Wow, that explains a lot," said Albus. Instead of a shove, though, he earned a kick to the shins.

"Hey, don' fight," said Hagrid.

"Too late for that," Albus muttered, unheard by Hagrid.

They were back in the castle by eleven o'clock. Once they entered Gryffindor Tower, two girls came over to James.

"What took you so long?" asked the one with blonde hair. "Jessy and I were waiting for you."

"You said you'd sneak us and Brent and Alex and J.J. out of the castle," said the brunette, which must be Jessy. "I really want a Butterbeer."

"Well, then, grab those three and lets get going," said James. "I'll go and grab my Invisibility Cloak."

"Who's that?" asked the blonde suddenly, looking at Albus.

"Oh, that's nobody," said James.

"Are we bringing the brother, then?" said a voice. Albus had met J.J. Loams two summers ago and was surprised by how much he had changed. His dark black hair was braided back, and he was dressed in regular Muggle attire. The only thing that hadn't really changed was his dark skin color (he was African-American), his accent (which was due to change soon due to being in England) and his clothing style. James had once mentioned he was Muggle-born, so Albus wasn't surprised that he was able to dress himself in Muggle attire easier then most witches and wizards. He was wearing dark baggy jeans and his shirt was green with darker green stripes across.

"He's you're brother?" said the blonde.

"What, can't you see the resemblance?" said J.J., putting an arm around both brother's shoulders and laughing. "Kelly, what's wrong with you? They are obviously brothers!"

"Aren't brothers supposed to have the same eye color?" said the girl who must be Kelly. She was obviously what Muggles called a 'Dumb Blonde'.

James raised his eyebrows at her and smirked.

"Oh, so he's adopted!" said Kelly. "I get it now!"

"No, I'm not adopted!" said Albus.

"Unfortunately," said James. "Hopefully we'll find out the truth in a few years."

Albus glared at James.

"Albus! My man!" said J.J., raising his hand for a high-five. Albus slapped it and then J.J. gave Albus a big hug, trying to crush him in a joking kind of way and bragging about how tall he was. "Wassup?"

"Nothing much," said Albus, shrugging once he was let free.

"How much homework have you gotten so far?" asked J.J.

"Enough to do all on Sunday night."

"That's the Albus I know."

"Enough talking to my brother, okay?" said James. "Come on, grab Brent and Alex and let's go."

"But won't Albus get lonely?" asked J.J., faking a pouting look. "I mean, does he even have any friends yet?"

"Of course I have friends!" said Albus. "It's not like I'm retarded!"

"That's to be determined," James whispered into Jessy's ear, who giggled.

"I heard that!" said Albus. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go find my friends."

Albus pushed past his brother and ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitory. Dustin and Addie were sitting on the floor, playing each other in Exploding Snap.

"I still don't get it," said Dustin.

"What's not to get?" asked Addie. He was obviously annoyed.

"Hey," said Albus. The two looked up at him.

"Oh, thank Merlin!" said Addie. "Maybe we can actually do something entertaining now.

"Thank Merlin?" Dustin repeated. "This is going to take some getting used to."

"Where's Rose?" asked Albus. He instantly regretted walking into the dormitory for a reason he didn't know. "I sort of need to talk to her."

"She's sitting on one of the couches in the common room," said Addie, disappointed that Albus would rather talk to his cousin then to him.

"Thanks," said Albus. He walked out of the dormitory and back into the common room, where Rose was, just as Addie had said, sitting on one of the couches. She was talking to Emily. Albus walked over.

"Hey, Rose?" he said. Rose looked up as did Emily.

"How was detention?" Emily smirked.

"Not too bad, it could have been worse," said Albus, shrugging. "Hey, Emily, do you mind? I sort of need to talk to just Rose right now."

Emily raised her eyebrows as she stood up off of the couch. "Okay, then," she said and she walked to the girl's dormitory. Albus sat down next to Rose.

"Al, is everything okay?" asked Rose.

"I found something at detention," said Albus.

"What was it, a speck of dirt?" asked Rose. "You went into the forest, Al, there's not much you can find there."

"I found a ring," said Albus. "The stone was cracked and there was a coat of arms on both sides of the stone."

"Sounds cool, can I see it?" said Rose.

"James took it from me," said Albus. "He got this weird expression on his face when he looked at it…as if he was scared or something."

"James? Act scared in front of his brother?" said Rose. "That's not the James Potter I know."

"Exactly," said Albus. "What do you think it means?"

"He's probably just building up to play a major prank on you," said Rose. "_That_ would be the James Potter that I know."

"Yeah…maybe," said Albus. "But the ring…James wouldn't be able to hide a ring in the forest, it'd be too hard to go back and find."

"True," said Rose. "What if he just put it there when you were there and pretended that it had been there?"

"Look, James is a good actor," said Albus. "But the only thing he's good at with acting is the innocent act, which hasn't been working lately. He doesn't really know how to act scared, because he's never been scared."

Rose looked as if she was going over it all in her head. "You have a point," she said at last. "Where's James?"

"Most likely Hogsmeade," said Albus wearily. "He decided to sneak out of the castle with his friends."

"Typical," said Rose, smirking. "If I were you, I'd stay up until he got back. Ask questions, you know."

"Okay, sounds good," said Albus. "It would be even better, though, if I wasn't so tired."

"Well, fall asleep on the couch or something, I don't know! But we need to know more about the ring!"

"What ring?"

Albus and Rose looked up to see their cousin, Victoire.

"Oh, so now she talks to us," said Albus, smirking. "Been busy with Teddy?"

Victoire blushed. "Teddy doesn't go here anymore, remember? He's been out for a while now!"

"Right," said Albus. "Doesn't mean there aren't ways of sneaking into the castle."

"Shut it," said Victoire, her eyes glowing angrily. It was amazing how even when she was angry, she managed to look beautiful. She had inherited that from her mother. Her hair was a silvery blonde, breaking the traditional Weasley-red hair, and her eyes were brown. Something she had inherited as a Weasley, though, were the Quidditch skills. She was Quidditch Captain of the Gryffindor team.

"Sorry," said Albus.

"So?" said Victoire.

"So what?" asked Rose.

"So what ring?" said Victoire.

"Oh, that," said Rose, smirking. "Just a ring. What's so special about it?"

"You guys have been talking about it for a while now."

"What, were you eavesdropping?" asked Albus angrily.

"No," said Victoire. "I have good hearing."

"Right," said Albus sarcastically. "Of course."

"It's the truth, Al," said Victoire. "Stop thinking that everything is a lie, because it's not."

"I don't think that!" said Albus angrily.

"Stop it!" said Rose. "Calm down, okay? You shouldn't be fighting."

"Fine," said Albus, glaring at Victoire. "I'll see you around. And say hi to Teddy for me."

Victoire blushed ferociously and walked away to her friends without saying goodbye.

"Al, calm down," said Rose. "She's our cousin, you can't get that angry with her."

"She's never liked me that much," said Albus. "Every time she came over, she'd go hang out with Teddy, back when he lived with us. And all Dominique would do was try to be included." **(A/N: Bill and Fleur had three kids, Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. If you think I'm lying, visit the JK Rowling official website)**

"So? It just means Victoire likes Teddy! She's a girl, Al, girls tend to have their feelings! And smaller children tend to like to fit in with the older crowd!"

Albus sighed. "Fine," he said. "I'll try to be…civil with Victoire, okay? Are you happy now?"

"Happier then before," said Rose. She stood up. "I'm going to bed so I can get an early start on my homework tomorrow. Be sure to stay up for James."

"Fine," said Albus as Rose walked away. "Good night!" he called after her.

"Night," she said, holding up a hand to signal.


	5. Of Hallows and Horcruxes

**A/N: sorry it took so long, I got a bit of writers block, and school's been so hard along with soccer and so forth. But I hope you like this chapter! Please R&R!**

"I didn't even know you had a brother," Jessy was saying as she and James were walking back into the common room. Brent, Alex, J.J., and Kelly had gone back to Gryffindor Tower earlier then James and Jessy, because those two wanted to talk to each other and finish their conversation.

"We're not really related," said James. "He doesn't know he's adopted."

"Really?" said Jessy, smiling and giggling.

"Yeah," said James. "And the only reason he looks the way he does is because Mum and Dad transfigured his hair and eye colors when they took him in."

"What's the whole story?" asked Jessy, giggling still.

"Well, this pregnant teenager didn't have enough money for abortion, so she had an add in the newspaper, and my mum wasn't ready to give birth to another kid yet, so she contacted the girl and got the baby. And the deal was that my parents got to name it, so henceforth, he's Albus Severus Potter."

Jessy smirked and rolled her eyes as she walked over to one of the over-stuffed sofa's.

"You act so retarded sometimes," she said. James joined her and sat down next to her, leaning against the corner of the couch. "I can't even describe it."

"But that was a true story," said James.

"How true?"

"As true as the fact that the sky outside right now is blue."

"The sky's black outside…you little liar!"

"But it was a good lie, right?"

Jessy let out a loud giggle. "You're so weird." She leaned her head against his shoulder and chest.

James smiled and stroked her hair. "But that's why you love me, right?"

"Oh, no," said Jessy, smiling. "Not this again."

"Oh, come on, please?" said James. "Please?"

"Hold on," said Jessy. "First you have to say your famous line."

"Okay," said James. He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath before letting it out. "Jessy Collins, will you go out with me?"

Jessy sighed. "You know, I'm actually going to say yes this time."

James perked up. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Yes!" said James loudly. Then, there was a thump.

"What was that?" asked Jessy, taking her head off of James.

"I don't know," James muttered. "All right, who's there?"

"James? Is that you?"

James sighed as Albus appeared.

"Al, you have to ruin everything, don't you?"

"What'd I ruin?" Albus asked sleepily.

"I'm going to go," said Jessy awkwardly. "It's getting late. I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay? We can set the date."

"Okay," said James excitedly.

"Good night," said Jessy, bending down to kiss James on the cheek. She started walking away.

James felt the spot on his cheek that she had kissed. "Good night," he said, his face glowing with pleasure. Then, he turned to Albus. "So, what's up?"

Albus sat down on the sofa opposite James. "What's with the ring?"

James pretended to look confused. "What ring?"

"You know bloody well what ring!" said Albus.

"Actually, I don't," said James, getting up and heading towards the boy's dorm. "Good night."

Albus grabbed his wrist and James turned around. "You're lying to me. I know that face, James, I've known you my whole life."

James wrenched his wrist out of Albus's hold. "What's the ring worth to you? A couple of galleons or two? Your life? Your death?"

Albus stared intently at James. "My death?" he asked.

"I like to make things dramatic," said James, his lying face coming back on.

"Hold it," said Albus. "My death? Why would any ring be worth my death? Or my life?"

James sighed as he fished the ring out of his pocket. "This ring isn't ordinary," he said, holding it out at arm's length. Albus put his hand out to take it and James dropped it into his hand. "It's different."

"What's so different? The cracked stone?" said Albus. "The coat of arms? What's it all mean, anyway?" he was now examining the stone.

James smirked as he stole the ring back from Albus and pocketed it. "You obviously don't know the whole story."

"Which story?" asked Albus.

"One you've heard…" said James. "One most people know."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Oh, that story," he said. "Yeah, I know it. And I know I don't know all of it, Dad said he wouldn't tell me until I got older—way older—but I highly doubt he's told you."

"He hasn't," said James, grinning. "I overheard him and Mum a couple years back and I've done my research since."

"Research?" Albus scoffed. "What research would you need to do on a story that everyone knows?"

"But not everyone knows the whole of it!" said James. "They know just as much as you do, and that's the thing! And in the story that you know, there's an—"

"An empty space that no one knows what happened!" said Albus. "I get it!"

"Anyways, I've done my research," said James. "It took me a couple of years…some fake notes to get into the restricted section in the library…a couple of distractions. It's a really scary story. I don't know if you're brave enough to hear it."

"I'm brave enough!" said Albus. "You know I am!"

"Oh, yeah, right," said James sarcastically. He started to mock Albus in an annoying baby voice. "'Should we shout for Hagrid, James?' 'James, should we turn back?' 'James, I think I'm being followed. Am I being followed, James?'"

Albus pushed James back. "Shut up!" he said. "I was put into Gryffindor for a reason!"

"Maybe it was to prove to you that you're not as brave as everyone else," said James. "There are plenty of people that are braver than you. Just look at Dad!"

"No one's braver than Dad!" said Albus angrily. "And I don't need you telling me that I don't belong in Gryffindor! Now tell me the whole of the bloody story!"

James sighed and looked at Albus. "Look, you need to understand something: this is all the truth and it isn't a lie—not a word of it."

"Sort of hard to believe, if it's coming from you," Albus shot back.

"I mean it," said James. "Don't accuse me of lying at all within the telling, okay?"

Albus sighed. "Okay," he said. "Go on, now."

"There's dark magic out there, we all know that," said James. "Not all of us, though, know what the darkest magic is."

"Stop trying to sound like a story-teller and get on with it!" said Albus.

"There's really no other way to explain it, okay?" said James. "You're frustrating me! Where was I, again? Great, now I have to start over."

"Oh, joy," said Albus sarcastically.

"There's dark magic out there, we all know that," he repeated himself. "Not all of us, though, know what the darkest magic is."

"Keep going," said Albus. "I should've brought a bowl of popcorn if I knew it would take forever."

"Will you please stop being sarcastic?" said James. "This is the one time I'm actually being serious! Ugh, and I forgot where I was again! Now I have to start over. There's dark magic—"

"I know about the bloody dark magic, just get on with it!" said Albus.

"Fine, then," said James. He sat down on the couch and Albus sat down on the sofa opposite him—the same seats that they had sat down in before they had gotten up. "Well, anyways—Dad always said that Voldemort went beyond your usual 'evil'. That's what always made him so different."

"Yeah, so?" said Albus.

"So, do you ever remember Dad giving us examples of what's beyond the usual 'evil'?"

"No…actually, I don't," said Albus. "Keep going."

"What do most evil people want?" asked James.

"Well, Voldemort wanted all of the Muggles to know of our existence and to know that they were below us and so forth," said Albus.

"But how would he ensure that this job was taken out, even if it wasn't completed before he died?" asked James.

Albus gasped in realization. "So he wanted to make himself immortal?" he asked.

"Exactly," said James.

"So what did he use?" asked Albus. "It can't have been the Sorcerer's Stone, because that story took place in Dad's first year and it was destroyed afterward. What about Unicorn's blood?"

"Think beyond that, Al," said James. "What do you think of?"

"Blood," said Albus, shrugging. "I don't know, ripping your heart apart or something."

"You're getting warmer," said James dully.

Albus gasped. "He ripped his heart apart?"

"Not his heart, his soul," said James. "When you rip apart your soul, you place it in an object, usually a piece of junk or something, and it becomes what is called a Horcrux. Are you following?"

"A Horcrux?" Albus repeated. James nodded. "Yeah, I'm following. So I take it Voldemort ripped his soul and made a Horcrux."

"Not just one Horcrux, he made seven," said James.

"Seven?" asked Albus.

"He pushed it to the limit," said James. "He made himself very fragile."

"I'm sort of confused," said Albus. "How does that prevent you from dying?"

"Basically, Voldemort couldn't die unless all of the Horcruxes were destroyed first."

"What's that have to do with the ring, though?"

James took the ring out of his pocket and put it into Albus's hand. "The ring used to be one of the Horcruxes."

Albus almost dropped the ring but gained control of himself. "You said Horcruxes were usually made into pieces of junk."

"Usually," said James. "That's the key word. Voldemort was never usual. He always went beyond usual."

"Of course," said Albus. He looked at the ring and at the cracked stone. "But…what's so special about this ring?"

"It belonged to Voldemort's grandfather," said James.

"How do you know all this?" asked Albus.

"I told you, research," said James. "Anyways, the ring belonged to Voldemort's grandfather."

"But I thought Voldemort resented his family," said Albus. "He thought he was better than them or something, didn't he?"

"He did, don't get him wrong. But the ring belonged to a pureblood family, and you know that Voldemort was all for the purebloods."

"Which family?"

"The Peverells."

"Oh, hey, isn't there a grave in Godric's Hollow with the name Peverell on it? What's so special about them?"

James sighed. "Do you remember that story that Mum used to tell us all the time when we were little?"

"Which one? There were a lot."

"'The Tale of the Three Brothers'."

"Oh, yeah, that one!" said Albus. "I loved that one!"

"Remember the sign on the front of the book?" said James patiently. "The straight line, the circle, and the triangle?"

"The one that looked like an eye? Yeah, of course I remember…wait a minute," said Albus. "Wasn't that on—"

"Ignotus Peverell's grave, exactly," said James. "He was one of the three brothers. From my research, the other two were Antioch and Cadmus."

"Wow, who would've thought that James Potter did his homework when there wasn't any assigned?"

"Shut it," said James warningly. "This is a serious matter, Al. Look at the ring more closely."

Albus twirled the ring around with his thumb and forefinger. Then, he looked at the coat of arms on the ring…there was a circle and a triangle that he was able to make out…and it seemed that there was a straight line that was supposed to go through the two but was cracked because of the stone.

"The coat of arms," said Albus. "It has the…the picture on it…"

"Yes," said James. "It is one of the Deathly Hallows."

Albus looked at James uncertainly.

"And you're not lying? Not at all?"

"I swore to you, brother. I would not lie."

"Then what are the Deathly Hallows?"

"Have you not been _listening _to a single word I've said?" said James. "Ugh, I swear you are the most idiotic brother a teenager could ever have!"

"Well, what are they?"

"Think about the story, Al," said James.

"You're not a story-teller, stop speaking in these bloody riddles!" said Albus furiously.

"Shut up, or you'll wake up all of Gryffindor," said James. "Just think about it…the Cloak of Invisibility, the Elder Wand, the stone that allowed you to see dead people…"

Albus dropped the ring and it landed with a tiny thud on the floor of Gryffindor Tower. His breathing had become shallow and his face showed fear.

"You mean…you mean that with this…this stone, we can see the dead?" Albus whispered the last part, still struck with fear.

"It's called the Resurrection Stone," said James, picking it up off of the ground and holding it for Albus to see. "And it's fragile, so you shouldn't be dropping it."

"So, not only is the ring a Horcrux, but it's also the Resurrection Stone?" asked Albus. "How long did Voldemort work deciphering all of this? It must have taken a life time!"

"He had no idea it was the Resurrection Stone," said James, flipping the ring over and over in his hands. "He just thought it was valuable."

Albus thought over and over about the evil of the stone…how it had once held the soul of the world's most evil man…how you could see the dead with it…

"How would you go about using it?" asked Albus suddenly.

"Don't know," said James, shrugging as he pocketed the ring. "But you're not going to be the first to find out."

"Why not?" Albus demanded as James stood up and started walking towards the dorm. Albus got up and followed.

"Because, I'm older."

"By only two and a half years!"

"But, still, I'm the oldest, therefore its mine."

"Dad wouldn't like that," said Albus darkly. "He's always said that you're not to judge people by how old they are or by what they look like or by what they seem like."

"But, guess what, Al?" said James. "We're not at home anymore. We're at Hogwarts. And things here are run according to the Hogwarts rules and the unwritten rules."

"And what do the unwritten rules state?" asked Albus.

"That I'm tired and should go to sleep and that, since I'm older, I get to keep the stone," said James, running up the rest of the stairs to the boy's dorm and going into his own, locking the door behind him.

Albus scowled as he jogged the rest of the way up the stairs to his own dorm and fell onto his own bed, not caring to change into his pajamas, but wanting to think about all that he'd just heard.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Albus barely slept at all that night, for thoughts of the Resurrection Stone ruined any chances of sleep he had.

_But it's not just a Resurrection Stone,_ he kept reminding himself, _it was once a Horcrux to a dead villain that's in a tomb in an empty classroom in my school._

"Wow, you look awful," said Dustin that morning, smirking. "What were you doing all of last night?"

"You really wouldn't want to know," said Albus, putting his hand to the side of his forehead and shaking his head.

"Having a late night shag?" Peter asked as he walked into the boys' dorm from the bathroom. He only had on a pair of baggy Muggle jeans.

"No," said Albus, clearly disgusted by the thought.

"Of course he was," said a voice from the doorway. "And it was with Emily."

Albus turned to look and saw the face of James, his face taunting and showing no signs that he hadn't slept the night before.

"I didn't shag Emily," said Albus tiredly. "I barely saw her last night—"

"Oh, so it was one of those quick shags," said Hayes, who was sitting on his four-poster with one leg folded in and the other hanging off. "My older brother told me about those—"

"I didn't shag Emily," Albus repeated, still in the same tired voice. "I didn't shag anyone. Just leave me alone."

"Sounds like someone didn't sleep," said Hayes.

"No," said Albus, yawning.

"Here," said James, walking into the room and handing Albus a bottle. "Now that the word is out that we're related, you're going to need to look better than that."

Albus took the little bottle from James and read the caption on it.

**Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes presents**

**The Glorifier Waker-Upper Potion**

**Be prepared to wake up to your full extent**

**and glow brighter than you ever have!**

Albus looked up at James confusedly.

"It won't necessarily be to your full extent," said James. "I've tried it. You'll be more awake and you'll look better. Or, at least, as good as Albus Severus Potter can look."

Albus was too tired to reply. Instead he just groaned. "How much do I take?"

"Only take a sip," said James. "That stuff's strong. Oh, and mine is pumpkin flavored, so I hope you enjoy."

"This had better not be one of your pranks," said Albus as he unscrewed the cap on the bottle.

"It isn't," said James.

Albus just looked at him as he took a sip. Immediately, it felt as if he had had ten cups of coffee. The bags under his eyes went away, and he realized that the way he was dressed didn't match at all.

"Here you go, James, thanks," said Albus, handing the bottle bag to James and taking some clothes into the bathroom and changing.

He came out wearing his dark jeans and his purple shirt with a brand name on it. His father had taken him shopping at the Muggle mall one time, and he had found his style rather quickly. His hair was combed (or at least looked okay since his hair would never lie flat), his teeth brushed, and his face washed.

"Wow," said Addie, smirking as Albus walked out of the bathroom. "That was fast."

"Was it?" asked Albus, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," said Addie. "So, enlighten me. How was this shag of yours last night?"

"For the last time, I didn't shag Emily!" said Albus loudly. There was a snort of laughter heard, and Albus looked to the doorway to see Emily. He blushed.

"Oh, yeah, because I would totally want to shag Al, right?" said Emily sarcastically.

"You know you want to," said James.

Emily walked up to James and got in his face. She pushed his chest so that he stumbled a bit back.

"I would never," said Emily. "Oh, yeah. And I talked to that so-called girlfriend of yours. Jessy? What are you, a stalker? You've been asking her out since the beginning of your second year, are you desperate or something?"

"Least I'm not in denial," said James, pushing Emily back on the shoulder. "I'm not the one who likes Albus."

"He shouldn't have said that," Dustin whispered to Albus.

And Dustin was right: Emily punched James so hard in the stomach that James doubled over and eventually fell to the ground on his knees. Then, he rolled over to his side, still clutching his stomach.

"Hot damn!" said a voice. Emily turned to look: J.J. was standing in the doorway. "That was a good punch."

"And you are…" said Emily.

"J.J. Loams, at your service," said J.J., holding his hand out for Emily to shake. Emily just raised her eyebrows. "Okay, so it's going to be like that. You should play Quidditch if you're that strong. You'd be a good beater."

"Maybe in a couple years," said Emily, eyeing J.J. "I'm Emily Finnigan."

"J.J.," said James slowly, taking slow and easy breaths while trying to get to his feet. "Don't be nice to her. She's a—"

"Don't you dare call me anything unless you want your face to be next," said Emily calmly. "Anyways, I just came up here to tell Al, Dustin, and Addie that Rose and I are downstairs waiting for you. We wanted to go watch the Quidditch tryouts."

"We'll be down in a minute," said Albus. Emily nodded and walked back down. "Hurry up, guys, I want to watch the tryouts too."

Dustin and Addie were ready quickly and the three of them walked down to meet Rose and Emily.

"Come on, we're going to meet Jackie and Jenna," said Rose. "I don't want to be late."

They ended up skipping breakfast to walk down to the pitch and sit down in the stands.

"Hey Jackie, hey Jenna," said Rose.

"Hey, Rose," said Jenna.

"Hey," said Jackie.

Albus looked at the two and took in just how different their appearances were. Jackie's hair was a deep red, almost a brown, and her eyes were blue. She had an athletic build and a look on her face that clearly said that she wanted to be down on the pitch trying out. Jenna, however, had dirty-blonde hair that looked like a sandy color, and her eyes were brown. Her body shape seemed a little more petite and fragile than Jackie's, and she also seemed as if she was a bit more girly. She was the one that was wearing a bit of mascara and lip gloss, not Jackie.

"You two met Albus," said Rose. Albus half-smiled and put up a hand to signal that that was him. Jackie and Jenna nodded. "That's Dustin, and that's Addie."

"Hi," said Dustin, nodding his head back.

"Hey," said Jackie. "Just so you guys know, I'm Jackie. That's Jenna."

"Are you sure you're twins?" asked Addie.

"Fraternal," said Jenna. "Ever hear the meaning of it?"

"I'm not stupid," said Addie fiercely.

"Although you're making a really bad first impression," said Emily. "Come on, let's sit."

"So…what's Quidditch?" asked Dustin.

"Didn't we tell you?" said Addie.

"Uh…I forget," said Dustin.

Addie spent the beginning of the Quidditch tryouts trying to explain the rules and concept of the game to Dustin.

"He's definitely going to make Chaser," Albus said to Rose. "He has just the right body-build, and he's certainly got the broom for it."

"You haven't even seen him play yet," said Jackie, who had been listening in.

"Just watch," said Albus. "I know this stuff. My dad's told me about it, and James keeps on going on and on about it. And my mum likes to point this stuff out too. My family's Quidditch obsessed."

"Well, we'll see, then, won't we?" said Jackie.

The tryouts began with having the players tossing the Quaffle around. The players who dropped the Quaffle the first time it was passed to them were asked to leave. Several players left the field, one of them making a very rude hand gesture to Victoire.

The ones who were left were now paired up in groups of three and passing the Quaffle to one another while flying down across the pitch. At the end of the pitch, they were asked to shoot. If you dropped the Quaffle during the drill, you were asked to leave.

"See?" said Albus, as the player he was rooting for scored on the far goal hoop. "Just the right broom and the right strength to throw a Quaffle."

"Just watch," said Jackie.

Soon, the player that Albus was rooting for was one of twenty left. They were seeing who could swerve the easiest.

"This is going to be easy for him," said Albus to Jackie. "He has the right body-shape, the right broom speed—"

"Just watch," said Jackie, who seemed close to being in fits of laughter.

The player that Albus was rooting for was up next. He was swerving, and then he fell off of his broom. Madam Hooch, who had been watching, caught him with her wand and lowered him to the ground. He was asked to leave the Quidditch tryouts.

"What?" said Albus incredibly. "He was great! He just needs to work on swerving!"

"He's not going to make it until next year," said Jackie. "That way he can work on his swerving."

"How did you know he wasn't going to make it?"

"Because he's my older brother, Chase," said Jackie. "He's been working on trying to be a Chaser for years, but he's been having trouble with his swerving."

Albus took a closer look at Jackie's brother and could see the resemblance. His hair was a deep red as well, and he had an athletic body-build.

James had made it into one of the three Chaser positions, and Victoire was looking for two beaters. Not many had come to try out. The only good one so far was Roxy, who had taken her father's brilliance in being Beater.

"Merlin, I could do better than most of them!" said Emily. "They suck!"

"Then why aren't you down there?" asked Rose.

"First years aren't allowed brooms," said Emily. "If I had to play an entire season with a school broom, I wouldn't be very good at all."

"Do you play Beater?" asked Jenna.

"No," said Emily. "I've been forced to play it a bit when I played with my older brothers, but that's about it."

"How old are your brothers?" asked Jenna.

"One's seventeen, two are fifteen, and one's five," said Emily, counting them off on her fingers as she went along. "I'm the only girl in my family."

"Oh," said Jenna.

"Chase is the only boy in our family," said Jackie.

"Oh," said Emily.

The tryouts dragged on along the rest of the day, or at least until the afternoon when Albus, Rose, Dustin, Addie, and Emily decided to stop watching. Jackie and Jenna needed to go and comfort their brother, who had been sitting in the stands with them and wouldn't stop mumbling to himself about how his swerving needs to be better and standing up to leave at random moments to improve on his Quidditch only to be sitting down seconds later.

Last night returned to Albus's head. And it stayed there for the rest of the week, disturbing him during his classes so he would stare into space until his teacher asked him what was wrong. He was even caught staring at the back of Scorpius Malfoy's head one day during Potions by a very concerned Rose Weasley.

"Al, what's wrong with you?" Rose asked late at night at the end of the week on Friday. "You've been dozing off in class, you haven't been listening to our conversations…you haven't even been doing your homework! What's going on?"

Al contemplated on what to say. He had not told Rose about the ring, and he hadn't been planning on it either. Rose was a worry-wart, but not about the dumb things that Albus was, like getting into Hogwarts or getting into Gryffindor. She worried about the serious stuff that Albus didn't take much concern to until it needed concern. If Albus told her about the ring, then Rose would stand up and march right out of the Gryffindor common room to Neville's office, or to the Owlery, or even to the Headmasters Office!

No, he wouldn't tell her about the ring…

"I've been stressed out," said Albus.

"About what?" said Rose. Albus shrugged. "It's about that ring, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Albus dumbly.

"That ring, you know, the one you found in the Forest," said Rose. "You haven't even told me about that ring. What's so special about it?"

"Nothing," said Albus, thinking about how only Rose could remember something as small as the ring.

"Oh, I get it," said Rose.

"You do?" said Albus nervously. Was she going to rat him out? Did she know about the Hallows? About the Horcruxes?

"You're worried that James is building up to play a major prank on you with that ring, and you can't stop thinking about it," said Rose.

"What? Oh, yeah," said Albus, remembering one of his earlier theories on the ring with Rose. "He's planning something major, I can bet on it."

"Come on, let's go tell Neville," said Rose.

"No!" said Albus. How would he explain something like that to Neville? "Rose, it's James, he's going to be pulling dozens of pranks on me within our time at Hogwarts together. It won't be too bad."

"How do you know?" said Rose. "He once left me with pink hair!"

"It wasn't that bad looking," said Albus. "He was just trying to match the color of your name."

"Are you actually defending him?"

"Don't blame me," said Albus. "You're the one that wants to rat him out. Rose, this is Hogwarts. It's not home, where if you rat someone out they'll get in trouble and you'll feel good about yourself. Here, if you rat someone out, you get the reputation of a tattle-tale. I'm not going to ruin my reputation here at Hogwarts, not just yet. Are you willing to ruin your reputation?"

Albus saw Rose twitch. She had always been a tattle-tale when she was younger, trying to act like the smart witch she was. James, though, had always called her names, scarring her for life as a six-year-old. If there was anything that Rose hated, it was a bad reputation.

"No, I guess not," said Rose.

"And he'll end up getting in trouble for it anyways," said Albus. "Don't worry about it. It'll be fine."

"I guess," said Rose. She stood up from the couch. "Well, I'm going to go to bed. What about you?"

"Nah, I'm going to stay down here for a while…think about what I need to catch up on…"

"Okay, then." And with that, Rose left to go to the girl's dormitory, leaving Albus alone in the common room, contemplating over his choices.

He finally arrived at the one he had always known he would arrive at:

He wanted to use the ring.


	6. Seeing Voldemort

**A/N: hey, I haven't kept track of how long it's been since my last chapter, but I've had time to work on it over Winter break, so here it is. Hope it hasn't been too long.**

**Oh, and I've been updating it a bit. Just so you know, a new family tree came out on JK Rowling's website, about the name's of people. As it turns out, George married Angelina and, instead of having a daughter named Ashley as I had written, they had a daughter named Roxanne. In this story, she goes by Roxy for short. He also had a son named Fred (predictable) who I'm going to make eighteen, having already graduated from Hogwarts, and best friends with Teddy. **

**Also, I've been planning sequels for this story, so be ready for them after this story is finished. I'm still deciding about the next one, whether it should be about Albus's second year, or if it should be about both Albus's second year and Molly (Percy's oldest daughter), Dominique (Bill's middle child), and Lorcan (Luna's oldest child) first year, somehow making the two plots conflict in some way.**

**Tell me if you have any ideas! R & R!**

Albus crept outside of James's dormitory a week later, waiting for half an hour after the complete silence had started, a trick that he had learned especially from James. Except, five minutes after any silence started, a new conversation would begin.

"So, how's Jessy?" was the conversation that started this time by what sounded like J.J.

"Our first date's on the Hogsmeade trip tomorrow," said James, and Albus could practically hear that arrogant smile appearing on his face.

"She's hot," said Brent's voice. "Good pick."

"Well, I don't think she would ever pick anyone else," said James. "I'm the only hot guy at school here."

"Or the only one arrogant enough to think so," Albus muttered to himself.

"I'm hungry," came Alex's voice.

"You're always hungry," said J.J.

"He must have a high metabolism," said a girl's voice. Albus recognized it as Kelly's voice. But why was it that he was only hearing her voice for the first time now?

"Why?" said Brent.

"Because he's so skinny," said Kelly. "Duh."

"Will you guys shut up?" said a sleepy voice that Albus didn't recognize. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Same here," said another unrecognizable voice.

"Then go sleep somewhere else," said James in an annoyed tone. "We're having a conversation.

"If you kick us out, we'll tell McGonagall that you have a girl up here," said one of the voices.

There was silence.

"Fine, stay," said J.J. "I don't want anything bad to happen to Kelly.

There was a happy moan heard from Kelly, and Albus figured that J.J. must be dating Kelly, and that they were probably making out right now.

"Let's find someplace more private," said Kelly softly, Albus having to press his ear hard to the door to hear.

"I agree," said J.J. Albus soon realized that they were going to come out and he threw his Invisibility Cloak on, dodging to the side as well, just as the door opened and Kelly and J.J. left, holding hands and Kelly giggling.

There was more silence. Maybe, if Albus was lucky, they'd be silent for half an hour!

"I'm hungry," came Alex's voice once again.

"Good for you," said James.

"Let's go to the kitchen," said Alex.

"We just ate dinner two hours ago," said Brent.

"But I'm hungry!" said Alex.

"Fine!" said James and Brent.

"Let's just go to the kitchen to get him to shut up," said James.

Albus stayed to the side as their dormitory door opened and the three boys left, pulling James's Invisibility Cloak over themselves as they walked away. Albus seized his chance and walked silently into the third-year boys dormitory. There were two boys asleep on two other beds, one of them hidden completely under his blankets as if trying to drone out any sound.

Albus found James's trunk easily and opened it quietly, searching for the sock at the bottom of his trunk. Harry had once told him that when he was at Hogwarts, he would hide precious things in his old socks, and Albus once found something very dear of James in James's old socks when he was looking for something in James's room.

There! Albus lifted an old, very dirty sock out of the bottom of the trunk and held it up to his eye level. He held the sock upside down over his hand and out fell the ring silently into the palm of his hand.

Albus shivered. The ring was cold against his hand, and Albus wanted to drop it and run away.

_No, _he thought. _I'm braver than that. I'm in Gryffindor. _

Instead, he pocketed the ring and walked back into his dormitory.

"Where've you been?" said Addie.

"Probably at another late night shag," said Hayes. Ever since that morning two weeks ago, Hayes and Peter had taken whatever chance given to him to tease Albus about shagging someone.

"No big deal, he's Al," said Peter.

"Oh, shut up," said Albus.

"Who was it this time?" said Peter. "Was it Jackie? I caught you checking her out in the hallways this morning."

"You like Jackie?" said Addie incredulously.

"What? No!" said Albus.

"It seems that Al is more for the tomboys, you see," said Hayes. "First Emily, now Jackie—"

"He's a lady's man," said Peter. "Gets more girls than me, and that's saying something."

"Then who are you dating now?" said Albus. "Please, enlighten me."

Peter turned red, and Dustin laughed.

"Al's not dating anybody," he said. "If he was, he'd tell me."

"He'd tell me too!" said Addie jealously.

"Right," said Dustin sarcastically.

Later that night, when the rest of the boys' dormitory was asleep, Albus reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring.

"_Lumos!_" Albus whispered, and his wand caught only a tiny bit of light. He had practiced only a tiny bit since that fateful night in the forest, and was once seen doing it by Professor Landon in the corridors.

"Very nicely done," said Professor Landon as he walked over to Albus and clapped. "It's clear that you possess some of your father's talents."

Albus had started to realize that he hated being compared to his father more and more each day.

The ring caught the light of the spell as Albus examined it.

"I wonder how it works," Albus muttered to himself. So, he held the ring out in front of him.

_I wonder what Uncle Fred was like,_ Albus wondered. Soon, in front of him, was a younger looking George, his hair much longer than it was now and a smile on his face.

Albus gasped.

"You must be Harry's son," said the ghostly human, walking towards Albus. "I'm Fred Weasley."

The only reason that Albus knew that he had red hair was because he was a Weasley, and all Weasley's had red hair except very few. The red hair on the person that had appeared was faded, and looked to be more blonde than red. The skin was pale, but yet the figure smiled all the more.

"Come on, wipe that frightened look off your face," said Fred. "I'm dead, not an inferi."

"Shh!" Albus hissed. "You'll wake everyone up!"

"You're the only one who can hear me," said Fred. "You're the one that brought me back—not really, because you can't bring back the dead in that sense—and henceforth, you are the only one who can hear me."

Albus looked horror-stricken. He realized that he was seeing the dead.

"Oh, come on, I'm not that scary," said Fred. "Wait, am I scarred? Did Thicknesse scar me in our duel? Oh, no, now I'm permanently ugly!"

Albus half smiled. "Come on," he whispered. "If I wake up Peter with my talking, he'll kill me."

Albus got out of bed and walked down to the common room with Fred right behind him. Albus sat down on the couch while Fred sat down on the floor.

"Wait, so you're going to sit up there?" asked Fred. "I'm going to feel like a loner sitting by myself on the floor!"

So Albus shifted himself to sitting on the floor. "Is that better?"

"Much," said Fred. "So…why'd you call?"

"Honestly, I was just testing this ring out," said Albus.

"What's your name?" asked Fred. "I know you've got to be Harry's son because you look just like him. Eyes, hair—everything. Oh, wait—I bet I know your name! With a father like Harry, you probably have some meaningful name. Okay—is your name James?"

"No, that's my older brother," said Albus.

"Well, it can't be Lily, because I'm pretty sure you are a boy…is it Neville? I remember hearing that he was quite a hero at Hogwarts during his seventh year."

"No, my name is Albus Severus Potter."

Fred smirked. "Figures, he gives the son that looks most like him a name that doesn't fit. Yep, that's Harry. You look more like a James than an Albus."

"Well, James looks more like you, really," said Albus. "His hair his long and red, his eyes are brown."

"Well, he did marry my sister," said Fred, shrugging. "Not that I'm complaining. Hey, how's George?"

"He's good," said Albus. "He married Angelina, and they had two kids: Fred, and Roxanne."

"He named his kid Fred? What kind of lousy name is that? He should've named him after a Greek god …why couldn't he have named his kid Hercules or something?"

Albus started laughing.

"So, how's the rest of my family?"

"They're good. Bill and Fleur had three kids: Victoire, Dominique, and Louis. Dominique starts here next year. Percy married someone named Audrey and they had two kids: Molly and Lucy. Molly starts here next year as well. Charlie never married but claims he's happy, even though whenever he's over he keeps on trying to work the charm on whoever he thinks will fall for it. Ron married Hermione—"

"No surprise there."

"—and they had two kids, Rose and Hugo."

"Hugo?" said Fred incredulously. "What kind of name is Hugo? Who in their right mind would name a kid Hugo?"

"It's your brother, not mine," said Albus. "And, as you know, your sister married my dad, and they had three kids: James, Lily, and me."

"Whatever happened to Loony Lovegood?"

"She married someone named Rolf, and they had two kids: Lorcan and Lysander. None of them are at Hogwarts yet, but Lorcan starts next year."

"And…and what happened to Malfoy? Is he in Azkaban?"

"No, he married someone named Asteria from what I heard Uncle Ron saying, and they had one kid named Scorpius, who's in my year. He's really weird, honestly. He doesn't talk to me…it's as if he avoids me."

"Nothing to be upset about there," said Fred.

"So…so how did you die?" asked Albus. "Not to be rude, or anything—Mum and Dad don't tell us anything about the real war that was going on or the real reason Dad didn't return to Hogwarts for his seventh year."

"I take it that, as Harry's kid and my would-be nephew if I wasn't dead, that you have already figured out the answer as to what they were doing?" said Fred.

"No, that was James, actually," said Albus. "He told me what he found out about two weeks ago."

"Just like me, I'm so proud," said Fred, pretending to wipe a tear away. "I only found out the real reason about why Harry dropped out of Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione when I died and I ran into Dumbledore. He decided that it was the time to tell me, even if the news of this might never reach the press."

"But how did you die?"

"Yeah, lets just go to the depressing topic, now shall we?" said Fred. It was as if he had never died. "I was with Percy, and we were battling two Death Eaters, one of them the current Minister of Magic, Thicknesse. I had used the stunning spell three times on a single Death Eater, and he was collapsing. Thicknesse had fallen to the ground, turning into who-knows what—great spell by Percy—and then…the side of the castle exploded, and I was dead. I had heard voices…but I couldn't respond, you know? Something was preventing me…I couldn't move at all…and then, I remember floating upwards while I was struggling against what was pulling me. In my struggle, I looked down to see my dead body, and there was a laugh on my dead face. I would have stayed—but then I realized, I wouldn't want to die any other way. I died a jokester and a fighter."

Albus looked intrigued. "So…you died and that was it?"

"I told you, I would have stayed if I could have," said Fred. "I couldn't. That's death for you. It's a real bitch."

Albus laughed.

Fred smiled. "Well, I must return—Tonks and Lupin and I were going to laugh over what had been our lives. Hey, just for Tonks and Lupin, can you tell me what Teddy's like?"

"Teddy's great," said Albus. "He's funny…he likes to experiment with his style. I think he likes the punk-goth look. James says it looks great on him. Teddy…oh! Teddy is dating Victoire! Victoire is in her final year of Hogwarts, and Teddy's nineteen. Just watch, I bet Teddy'll propose to her at the end of the year, as Gryffindor's probably going to win the Quidditch Cup."

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"Victoire is Captain. And Teddy has always told James and I that, when with a girl, be romantic. So, if Gryffindor wins the Quidditch Cup because of Victoire—which is really the only way they will win the game, since Victoire is Seeker, Teddy will most likely be waiting at the bottom of the field, on one knee, with a ring in his hand."

"Hmm, sounds like the kid of a Marauder," said Fred, shrugging. Then, Fred stood up. "Well, it's been great meeting the son of a Marauders son, the son of Harry Potter, THE Albus Severus Potter."

"Don't make such a big deal out of it," Albus muttered.

"Have a good life," said Fred. "See you when you die…unless you wish to speak to me before then—YOU'RE the one with the ring."

And then, Fred vanished into thin air, as if he had never been there in the first place.

Albus smiled. Then, a thought occurred to him: with this ring, he could see any dead person he wished to see! He could see Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, whom his parents had spoken of so highly…he could see the sixth year that had died in the battle, Colin Creevey…

He could see his father's Godfather.

Albus looked down at the ring in his hand and said, out loud this time, "Show me Sirius Black."

Then, as though he was walking through an invisible door, a man with black hair and gray eyes appeared. He looked around and smiled when he saw Albus, sitting on the floor five feet below himself.

"Not the first time I've been summoned this week," said the man. He, like Fred, seemed neither dead not alive, but halfway in between. "I take it you're Albus, right? Harry's son?"

"Yeah," said Albus. "Are you Sirius Black?"

"Yes," said Sirius.

"You've been summoned earlier this week?" said Albus.

"By you're brother, James," said Sirius. "Seems to take off of Harry's father a bit…he even asked me if I knew any good classic pranks he could pull."

"Well, you were one of the Marauders," said Albus. "And James's middle name is Sirius. _And _James did steal the map from my father when he was six."

Sirius chuckled. "Son of a Marauders son," he said. "So…why did you want to see me?"

"I honestly don't know," said Albus, thinking hard about a reason. "I guess I just…I dunno…wanted to meet you."

"Well, I'd hardly call this a meet," said Sirius. "I'm dead, you're alive. We most likely will never meet again."

"Unless I keep this ring here," said Albus. "Then I can see any dead person I want."

"Passed on, please," said Sirius, rubbing his temples. "I do not like to be referred to as 'dead'."

"Okay," said Albus. Sirius sat down on the floor with him.

"So, you stole the ring from James." It was not a question.

"Yeah," said Albus. "I wanted to know how it worked, and James is always belittling me."

"Don't vent to me, I'm not a therapist," said Sirius.

"I can see that," said Albus.

"Harry doesn't know you have this ring, does he?" said Sirius.

"No, and I plan to keep it that way."

"Why?"

"Because, if he knows then he'll try to take it away from me. And…I don't know, I guess I like having this ring."

Sirius shrugged. "Well, is there anything you want to ask me? I was going to go bother Prongs."

"No, I guess not," said Albus. "You can go, I guess."

"Good meeting you," said Sirius. He was about to walk through the invisible door when Albus got an idea.

"Hey, wait—Sirius?" said Albus.

"Yes?"

"Do you know any good ways of getting someone back?"

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. My ways of getting someone back fall under extremely dangerous for said person. You might not want to ask me."

And then, walking through the invisible door, Sirius disappeared.

Albus was left with the ring in his hand, turning it over as he thought about everything he could do with it.

_I could see Voldemort!_

The thought was out before Albus could control it, and he felt the ring grow warm in his hand…a sure sign that it was working hard to show someone.

_No…NO! Not Voldemort! Not Voldemort!_

He could hear the wind blowing hard against the windows, and soon one window opened, letting the strong wind blow Albus's hair. Albus stared, wide eyed, at the ring, which was now glowing.

Appearing out of thin air, the first thing Albus saw were a pair of scarlet red eyes glaring at him, then two slits for nostrils, and an evil smile grinning back at him, as if giving him no mercy.

Albus started panting, to scared to scream or to run away. The figure moved ghost-like towards Albus, grinning his evil grin, showing his yellow teeth. 

"Albus?"

Albus was unable to look away from Voldemort, but he could recognize that voice anywhere. It was the voice of his cousin Rose.

"Al, what's wrong? Why aren't you looking at me?"

Albus was panting, staring into the deadening glare of Voldemort.

"So…Albus Severus Potter, is it?" Voldemort hissed quietly, but putting power into each word as he spoke.

Albus nodded, unable to say anything or look anywhere else.

"Al, what are you nodding at?" Rose was mad. "Do you even know I'm here?"

"That ring belongs to my ancestors!" Voldemort hissed angrily.

"I—I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Albus said.

"Sorry about what?" said Rose. "Al? AL!"

"It's too late to be sorry!" said Voldemort. "It's too late to put it back now! You've brought me back. You'll pay."

"Pay?" Albus mouthed fearfully.

"Yes, pay," said Voldemort. "You've brought me back, much against your will and everyone else's."

"I…I can make you go back!" said Albus bravely. "I can make you go back to where you came from!"

"Make who go back?" said Rose from across the room. She started to walk over to Albus.

Voldemort looked over at Rose. "Let her see me," he hissed.

"Why?" asked Albus.

"Let her see me!" Voldemort yelled.

"Rose!" Albus hissed to her, under Voldemort's watchful eye.

"So now you notice me?" asked Rose, walking right through Voldemort and up to Albus. "I've been yelling at you for the past minute!"

"Rose, touch the ring," said Albus.

"Why?"

"Just do it!"

Albus grabbed her hand and made it touch the ring.

"Why am I touching the bloody ring?" asked Rose.

"Look," said Albus. Rose looked up to see Voldemort's gaze upon her now.

"Oh…oh my…" Rose was at a loss for words.

"Rose Weasley," said Voldemort. "From the family of blood traitors."

"What's wrong with being a blood traitor?" asked Rose. Voldemort started to charge towards them, but was stopped by an invisible force.

"You'll see," said Voldemort. "All the blood traitors will see. All the Muggles will see, and all the Muggleborns will—"

"Al, make him go away!" Rose pleaded. "Come on, Al!"

"Ha!" said Voldemort. "You can't make me go away. I will go when I choose to go."

Rose was panting. "AL!"

Al looked down at the ring in his hand and threw it out the window. Voldemort's body soon disappeared in the same cloud as it had appeared in.

Neither Albus nor Rose could speak for the next five minutes. Finally, Rose moved to sit on the couch. "Wow, that was nice," she said sarcastically. "We just had a visit from the world's most evil wizard. And whose fault is that?"

"Rose, I—"

"Al, Uncle Harry killed him for a reason! So no one would have to deal with him again!"

"It wasn't my fault, all right?" said Albus.

Rose sighed. "What was that ring?" she asked in barely a whisper.

"A Deathly Hallow," said Albus. "It allows us to see the dead."

"That's the ring you found in the forest!" said Rose.

So, Albus started explaining the story, of Hallows and Horcruxes, of Harry's would-be seventh year, why Harry had left Hogwarts, and the true reason for the war. Rose continued to look amazed and confused at what Albus said.

"You mean…you mean that that…that ring…that ring was a _Horcrux_?" said Rose, as if she was petrified to the spot.

"Yeah," said Albus. "James figured all of this out—"

"_James?_"

"Yeah, and he only told me a couple weeks ago."

"I want to ask you something, though," said Rose, her smarty-pants ego returning. "Why on Earth would you want to talk to Voldemort?"

"I didn't," said Albus. "I was going through lists in my head of who I could see, and then I thought of Voldemort, and before I could control what was going on, he appeared."

Just then, the portrait hole opened, and closed again. Footsteps could be heard, and Albus smirked.

"Hi, James."

The Invisibility Cloak was torn off, and revealed James, Alex, and Brent standing there.

"How'd you know it was me?" asked James. Then, a look of realization showed on his face. "Hey, guys, go up to the dorm—I need to have a chat with that kid over there."

"You mean your brother?" said Alex.

"_That_ hasn't been proven yet," said James. Alex shrugged as he and Brent headed up to the boys' dormitory.

"And what, oh brother dearest of mine, would you like to talk about?" asked Albus sarcastically.

"You spied on me," said James. "I'm not stupid, Al—"

"Could've fooled me."

"—I've pulled more pranks than you can imagine," James continued, pretending he hadn't heard Albus's remark. He crossed his arms across his chest. "You stole the ring."

"What?"

"You deliberately waited outside of our dorm until we either left or were asleep, using that half an hour of silence trick I taught you when you were eight, and then you stole the ring from my sock."

"Well, I've got to hand it to you," said Albus. "You actually figured it out."

"What did you do with the ring, Al?" James asked. "And what is Rose doing down here?"

"I told her everything," said Albus. "She's my cousin and she's my best friend."

"Well, she's family, she's all right," said James. "But where's the ring?"

"Gone," said Rose, standing up and crossing her arms. "Al threw it out the window."

"WHY? Al, what did you do with the ring? Who did you see?"

"I saw Fred and Sirius," said Albus.

"But why did you throw the ring out of the window?" asked James. "I was using it for my own good!"

"Because I accidentally brought back Voldemort," said Albus quietly.

"You WHAT?" 

"I accidentally brought back Voldemort," said Albus. "Let me tell you, he's scarier than Dad said. His eyes are scarlet red and…and he has slits for nostrils…and his teeth are yellow."

James shrugged. "Well, it was about time you saw Voldemort," he said. "I've already seen him."

"Yeah, right."

"I am right. I saw him last week when I was testing out the ring. I had a bit of a chat with him, making fun of him, and he eventually left."

"Oh, get real," said Rose. "You big liar."

"It's the truth," said James. "Although, I didn't dare tell him that I was Dad's son, or else he would have…I don't even know what he would have done."

"He's dead," said Albus. "There's nothing he could have done. There's an invisible wall protecting us from the dead—or passed on, in Sirius's sake."

James sighed and started walking towards his dorm. "Well, now I'm beat. Tomorrow, I'll go and find the ring—it couldn't have gone too far. And if I don't find the ring, it's on your head—"

"What're you going to do?" asked Albus, smirking. "Beat me up? Hex me?"

"Maybe I'll make you pay a visit to our dear old friend, Voldy," said James, smiling as he entered his dorm room and closed the door.

"If he can't find the ring, I have nothing to be scared of," said Albus.

"Well, maybe if you hadn't brought back Voldemort in the first place and admitted how scared you were of him, James wouldn't be teasing you about it," said Rose.

"I'm not scared of Voldemort!" said Albus. "My father killed him, and I'll never see him again! The rings gone…James will never see it again, who knows how far I threw it?"

"Only time will tell, Al," said Rose, starting to walk up to her dorm room. "I'm tired and I want to sleep. Night!"

"Night," said Albus, walking to his dorm room, ready to face yet another sleepless night.


	7. Detention Again

**A/N: this chapter is a bit different. I'm experimenting a tiny bit. If you don't like it, tell me. Sorry if it took long for it to be written. I'm a slow writer, but usually after I finish writing the chapter, I post it right away. Hope you like it! Read and review!**

The summer heat soon turned into an autumn breeze, with the different colored leaves littering the grounds of Hogwarts. Clouds littered the sky everywhere, and it was now too cold for students to try to go swimming in the lake. Even James had given up trying to get the giant squid to come above the surface of the lake.

And Friday afternoons now found themselves a regular for Albus, Rose, Dustin, Addie, and Emily to visit Hagrid in his hut.

"It's raining!" Addie said one day, the Friday before Halloween, as he, Albus, Rose, Dustin, and Emily entered the cabin.

"I can see tha'," said Hagrid. "Old as I may be, I'm not blind."

"Something cut me in the knee out there," said Dustin. He had never adjusted to wearing his robes, so after the last class let out every day, he would run up to Gryffindor Tower and change into his jeans and a shirt. Today, his jeans had a ripped hole in one knee and he was wearing a black and white striped sweatshirt.

Dustin pointed to his knee, the one where there was a hole in the jean, and showed a bloody gash.

"Do you know what it was?" asked Addie.

"No, stupid, that's why he said _something_," said Emily. Then, she turned to Dustin. "What could it have been, a blade of grass?"

"No," said Dustin angrily. "It was probably the dirt underneath the grass."

"Right," said Emily.

"It was actually a pretty funny sight," Albus recalled. "He decided he wanted to run in the rain and then he tripped on his way here."

Hagrid chucked appreciatively. "Well," he finally said. "I've been cookin' all day. Do yeh wan' some treacle fudge?"

The group found that, sometimes, you had to give in to Hagrid's cooking, no matter how gruesome it was. So, Albus took one heartily and said, "Thanks, Hagrid, I'm starving," before shoving it in his mouth, almost gagging at the flavor. Soon, his jaws were glued together. 

"So, how's school?" Hagrid asked. No one, however, could give him an understandable answer, for everyone's jaws were glued shut.

"I's goo'," Rose managed to say. Whenever it came to something school-related, she always wanted to be the first to answer. Soon, she broke her jaws apart and started answering. "We had this really hard test in Charms today, though. An essay exam and I just _know_ that I should have added some more detail about the wand movements. He's definitely going to mark me down for that. And then we had to make a Forgetfulness Potion today, and I just don't know _how_ I got a perfect score on that when, clearly, my potion was not a forget-me-not blue but a cerulean."

Emily was the next person to unclench her jaws. "Professor Landon creeps me out," she stated bluntly.

"He doesn't creep me out," said Rose. "He's really nice—"

"That's why he creeps me out," said Emily. "He's too nice—sort of odd, if you ask me."

"Hold on, now," said Hagrid. "Professor Landon has been wi' this school fer ten years now. He's a very nice man—he even asks me fer me opinion on some o' his potions."

"Don't you find that odd, though?" said Emily. "He_ always_ asks _everyone_ for their opinions! We're students, we're not the Ministry! We don't have as great of a perspective on a potion now then when we're fifteen or so. Why can't he ask my older brothers?"

"How come we haven't even met your older brothers yet?" Addie seemed to be the third to unclench his jaws.

"Oh, you've met them, but you don't know it," said Emily, looking at her nails.

"Who are they?"

"Jess and Teague."

"THEM!"

"What's wrong with them?"

"They—I—we—"

Jess and Teague, Emily's fifteen-year-old twin brothers, did not like Addie (courtesy of Emily). They tended to pick on all of the first years in a way that sort of gets them into a bond with the entire first year class by the end of the year. However, they pick on Addie far too much, playing miniature pranks on him, and once even levitating a pie over Addie's head, so once Addie wondered what the shadow hanging over his head was and looked up, the pie would fall onto his face. They also tended to pick on Emily a lot as well, but as Emily was used to it, she didn't complain about it as much as Addie did.

"You're related?" Addie finally said once he had finished stuttering.

"Yes," said Emily. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"N-no," said Addie. "Not at all. Maybe…maybe you get them to stop—"

"No," said Emily simply.

"Why not?"

"Simply because they won't. And everyone likes to see you suffer."

"What about your oldest brother?" said Rose.

"He's the Gryffindor Keeper," said Emily simply. "Although, his brilliance on his broom isn't nearly as great as his brilliance in Potions. He's already been offered at job at St. Mungo's as a Healer."

"Wait…so he's Jeremiah?" asked Albus, finally able to wrench his jaws apart as well. Dustin did the same.

"Jem, for short," said Emily.

"Wait, wait, wait," said Dustin. "If all of your brother's are in Gryffindor, how come you wanted to be in Ravenclaw?"

"I didn't," said Emily, trying to avoid the subject.

"What are you talking about? You didn't talk for, like two hours after you were put into—"

"I didn't want to be in Ravenclaw, just drop it, okay?" said Emily.

"But—" Addie had said, but was given a look by Rose. Addie, unlike everyone else, didn't know when to stop pestering one about a certain subject.

"Whoa, it's hailing!" Dustin said as a way of breaking the ice. Everyone looked outside to see little pieces of hail falling from the sky.

"It hasn' hailed in a while," said Hagrid. "Wonder when it'll stop."

But the hail didn't stop after another hour, so Hagrid told the group to run back up to the castle.

On the way to the castle, Dustin looked around on the ground, as if looking for something.

"What're you looking for?" asked Rose.

"What I fell on," said Dustin.

"Chances are, you won't find it," said Emily, and they hurried through the doors of Hogwarts and up the stairs to Gryffindor Tower.

"Well, I'd better start on that Transfiguration report," said Rose.

"Relax," said Emily. "We have all weekend."

"Save it, Emily," said Albus. "She's like her mother. She needs to get her work done."

So, as Rose rushed up to the girl's dormitory to get her school things, Albus, Dustin, Addie, and Rose made their ways to the couch. Albus sat down on the couch with his knee up and foot resting on it. Dustin sat down on the other side of the couch, lifted both of his legs up, and rested them up on the back of the couch. Emily and Addie sat on the floor.

"That's no fair," said Addie. "You two always get the couch."

Albus and Dustin looked at each other.

"What can we say?" said Dustin. "We're fast."

They were silent for a couple of minutes.

"Want to play Exploding Snap?" asked Addie.

"Sure," said Albus, while Emily said, "Yeah."

"What's with you wizards and your Exploding Snap?" said Dustin just as Addie left to go get the Exploding Snap cards.

"Well, Wizard Chess is only a two player game," said Albus. "And once Rose finishes with her homework, you won't want to be playing against her."

"Why not?"

"She's creepy good," said Albus. "Her dad was, like, amazing at chess, and he taught Rose how to play himself."

"Oh, you're playing Wizard's Chess?" Rose had finally arrived back downstairs with her Transfiguration papers and books. "Wish I could play with you."

Albus, however, was glad that they were not going to play Wizard's Chess while Rose did her homework. Even though that would be what Rose concentrated on most, every time she watched a game or even glanced at it, she would start mumbling under her breath what to do. Soon, it would develop into her sneaking each player hints.

It was rather annoying.

"No, we're playing Exploding Snap," Addie said just as he arrived with his deck of cards.

Just then, Albus was pulled backwards over the couch and was being dragged up to the third year boys' dormitories.

"You know, just a simple 'we need to talk' would suffice," said Albus.

"Yeah, but I didn't have time," said James. "And it's more fun when things don't 'suffice' or whatever."

"Well, what's up?" said Albus. "We were going to start a game of Exploding Snap."

"You and your friends need to grow up," said James. "Exploding Snap is for seven-year-olds."

"Yeah, that's why you always play it with Teddy, right?" said Albus.

James, though, didn't say anything. "Look, I'm blaming you for everything that happened."

"And what's happened?"

"I can't find the ring!"

"Well, good," said Albus. "I don't want to see Voldemort ever again."

"Relax, he's not that scary," said James. "He's dead."

"Not when you bring him back," said Albus. "He gets this glow in his eyes, like he's trying to figure out a way to return."

"His Horcruxes are gone. He's gone. Get over yourself and help me find this ring!"

"It's hailing outside!"

"Which, in conclusion, means it'll be easier to find when no one's out!"

Albus folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not going to help you."

"Yes, you are," said James, dragging Albus out of the boys' dormitory, down to the Gryffindor Common Room, and out of Gryffindor Tower.

"This is ridiculous! I can walk, you know!" said Albus furiously, escaping out of James's grasp and straightening his robes.

"Yeah, which makes it easier for you to runaway," said James. "Come on, Al. Just help me. You are my brother, after all."

"Really? I thought I was adopted," said Albus. "At least, that's what you tell all of your friends, right?"

"Well, the truth's out now. No use trying to escape it."

"And what kind of 'brother' locks his little brother in a room with Voldemort's corpse?"

"Okay, so I've done a few…stupid things," said James. "Now will you help me?"

"No," said Albus, starting to make his way back to Gryffindor Tower.

"Okay, then," said James. "I guess that, when I do find the ring, I'll set Voldemort on you."

Albus froze in his footsteps.

"You wouldn't."

"Yes, I would."

"You're too scared to bring him back."

"I've already brought him back."

"That's the biggest lie you've ever…wait…yeah, that's the biggest lie you've ever told."

"Okay, then," said James. "Voldemort…Tom Riddle…The Dark Lord…whatever you want to call him will be having a whole lot of fun, haunting you in the middle of the night, stalking you your every waking moment of every day—"

"Okay, I'll help you!" said Albus.

James smirked. "Doesn't take much."

Finally, they were outside of the castle, searching the grass.

"Isn't it against the rules to be outside when it's hailing or something?" said Albus.

"You're such a Hufflepuff," said James.

"Just so you know, Cedric Diggory was from Hufflepuff, and he was a Triwizard Champion!"

"Yeah, and then he died. See how that works out?"

Albus didn't reply. He started sifting through the grass carefully, making a note to himself that if he did find the ring, he wouldn't tell James.

"Oh, and if you're thinking of not telling me if you actually find the ring, remember that I am the greatest prankster this school has seen since Fred and George."

"And how would you know if I did or didn't tell you?" asked Albus, his hair now sticking to his head and neck.

James considered it for a second. "You're right," he finally said. "I guess I won't know. That just means that I'll have to prank you for eternity."

"But what if I was telling the truth?" asked Albus.

"You're still my brother, that's what I'll be pranking you for."

Albus looked up at the sky regretfully. "Why me?" he mumbled to himself.

"I heard that," said James. "And you should be happy that I'm your brother."

"And why's that?"

"Because, I spared you of having the birds and the bees talk with Dad. You should be thankful."

"You were the one who gave me that talk."

"Better me than Dad. It gets all uncomfortable."

"It wasn't any better when you told me." Albus shuddered at the thought. Teddy had even stolen Harry's Invisibility Cloak to stay in the room and spy on Albus's reaction.

"What, would you have rather had Teddy tell you?" asked James. "Trust me, Teddy would try to make it uncomfortable."

"You did try to make it uncomfortable. And you let Teddy spy on me during it!"

"It wasn't too bad, you were just a little freaked out."

"I was seven when you told me! What did you expect my reaction to be?"

"Teddy expected it to be worse than what it was."

The hail pounded harder down upon Albus's head. Soon, the hailing stopped and returned to pounding rain. Thunder was heard in the distance, and there was a flash of light. Albus jumped.

"There's lightning!" said Albus.

"Great," said James sarcastically.

"James, come on, we should go back inside," said Albus pleadingly.

"No," said James. "Not until I find this ring."

"Can't you just summon it?" said Albus. "I want to go back to Gryffindor Tower and take a shower!"

"They don't teach you to summon things until your fourth year," said James. "And even though I'm an extraordinary wizard and take off of Mum and Dad, I can't perform that spell yet."

"Oh, of course you take off of Mum and Dad," said Albus sarcastically. "However, I don't think I've seen Mum or Dad act as big of a prick as you do."

"You've obviously never seen Mum when it's her time of month," said James. "She's scary."

"Hmm," said Albus, walking through the grass. There was another flash of lightning and a roar of thunder. Albus jumped once again but then blushed as he heard James laughing at him.

"You're just like Lily!" he said. "She's terrified of storms."

"I'm not terrified," said Albus, although he must say that, out of James and Lily, he would prefer Lily to James. Lily, although a plotter and a future prankster at Hogwarts, was relatively calmer and more down to earth than James. She, however much she and James were alike, would rather spend her weekends hanging around with friends and sleeping instead of destroying the school…

…or instead of looking for a lost ring in the grass in the rain.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Decide to take a shower in the rain, did we, Mr. and Mr. Potter?"

As Albus and James walked through the entrance to Hogwarts, they were greeted by Professor Landon. The warm, creepy look that was usually plastered on his face was replaced by an ashamed look.

"Professor Landon, it wasn't my fault," said James. Albus almost groaned out loud, knowing that he was about to be blamed for the entire situation. "Albus here lost a Sneakoscope, and he dragged me out here to look in the rain. I kept on telling him that it was against the rules to be in the grass past six o'clock during a thunder and lightning storm, but he didn't believe me. He says that I like to disobey the rules too much and that it shouldn't matter if I get another detention or not!"

Albus sighed. Disagreeing with James could result in being teased by James for the rest of his life. And, after all, what was one more detention going to do to him?

"Is this true, Potter?" said Professor Landon to Albus.

"Yes, Professor," Albus grumbled.

"Well, then," said Professor Landon. "You will be serving detention tonight with me. Mr. Malfoy will be there as well. Be at my office by eight."

Professor Landon turned away, and Albus looked at James.

"Hey, I know you're mad at me," said James. "But, look on the bright side. At least I didn't get detention."

"I'm going to be serving detention with a Malfoy!" said Albus. 

"Albus," said James, in a mock-Harry voice. "You shouldn't be judging people by their last names."

Albus rolled his eyes. "Of course not, _Father_," he said sarcastically. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Albus was waiting outside of Professor Landon's door. He never liked going to things alone. He also never liked being the first one there. So, as he knocked on the door, he started feeling nervous.

The door opened. "Come in, Mr. Potter," said Professor Landon. Albus nodded and walked in.

Professor Landon's office wasn't dark and gloomy, but it wasn't happy. The walls were a medium shade of blue, not too gloomy yet not too happy. Pictures were on the wall, mostly of people Albus didn't know, surrounding a cauldron. Albus, however, had a feeling that they were famous Potion-makers who had invented a new potion.

As Albus advanced into the office, he looked at Professor Landon's desk, which was covered in papers and vials of sample-potions. Next to Professor Landon's desk was a cauldron with a ladle in it. Albus wanted to see what potion Professor Landon was brewing, but didn't want to be thought of as nosy.

"Here, you can sit at this desk," said Professor Landon, and Albus realized that there were two small desks set up. Albus nodded and took a seat. "Mr. Malfoy will be sitting next to you once he arrives."

However, Scorpius didn't arrive for another ten minutes, which left Albus sitting awkwardly for ten minutes in silence with Professor Landon.

"So," said Albus, clearing his throat. "What are Scorpius and I going to do?"

"Well," said Professor Landon, taking the chair from behind his desk and sitting down on it backwards. "I was actually going to venture out of what I ordinarily have students do."

"What's that, sir?"

"I was going to have both you and Mr. Malfoy write an essay for me on why you are both here."

"Are they going to be separate essays, Professor?"

"No, you are both going to talk about what you did and why you shouldn't do it in the same essay." 

Albus suppressed a groan. Working together with a Malfoy had never been in the job description for a Potter.

The door opened. "Sorry I'm late, Professor."

Albus frowned. Apologizing, from what he had heard, wasn't in the Malfoy job description.

Yet, as Scorpius Malfoy made his way over and saw Albus, he almost froze, but continued walking.

"So glad you could join us, Mr. Malfoy," said Professor Morgan stiffly. "What were you doing that kept you?"

Scorpius hung his head and just walked to the desk next to Albus's.

"Now, you two will be working together and writing an essay on what the both of you did. You will find that it was very similar."

Professor Morgan sat at his desk and went through some papers. Albus took out a piece of parchment and a quill and ink. "Let's start," said Albus. "Unless, you're going to let me do all the work while you just sit there and do nothing."

"I'm no prat," said Scorpius defensively.

"You sure could pass for one," said Albus.

"Boys," said Professor Morgan sternly. Albus and Scorpius quieted at once. "I'm going to be leaving for a little while. And trust me, if you leave detention, I will know."

Professor Morgan left the room. "Look, let's just get this over with," said Scorpius, taking the quill and parchment from Albus. "What did you do to get detention?"

"I was out past six o'clock in the rain outside," said Albus, shrugging. "I shouldn't even be here to begin with. It's my brother's fault, it always is."

"Oh, so you've taken to blaming others?" said Scorpius.

"It's not my fault, he dragged me out to look for—" Albus had to catch himself. He didn't want to tell Scorpius about the ring. "For his Sneakoscope."

Scorpius smirked. "Right," he said.

"Well, what are you in for?"

"That Hufflepuff, Julia Gray, ran to Neville crying, saying that I had teased her. I hadn't teased her at all, that was Anderson and Zabini."

"And where had you been when all this happened?"

"I was exploring through the forest a bit, not too far in, but just to look around. That was yesterday. Before it started raining."

"So you were caught in the forest?"

"Yeah." Scorpius shrugged. "I was put in detention for teasing and running. It's not my fault that Julia Gray's a baby."

"She's a nice person," said Albus. "One that you'll never get to know, or won't know because she's a Muggleborn and you won't stoop down to her level—"

"I don't give a damn about if someone's Muggleborn or not," said Scorpius. "I'm not my grandfather."

"You seemed to give a damn about if someone's a Weasley," said Albus, glaring at Scorpius.

Scorpius shrugged. "There are some people who I've been told to stay away from," he said, as if choosing his words carefully. "My father doesn't want me to be near the Weasleys or the Potters. However, we don't give a damn about blood."

"You're near me."

"Its detention," said Scorpius. "And I don't tend to judge like my father does. My mother's a good person, I just happened to look like my father in miniature."

By the end of the night, the essay was done. Professor Morgan still wasn't back, and they weren't supposed to leave until he was back, so they were quiet for a few moments.

"So…who is your mother?" asked Albus.

"Astoria," said Scorpius. "Her maiden name is Greengrass, I think."

"Weren't the Greengrass' big supporters if Voldemort?" asked Albus without thinking.

Scorpius glared at Albus. "My mother's not like that," he said. "Her older sister was, my Aunt Daphne. She used to come over and try to lecture me when I was little, telling me that purebloods were better than everyone else. Soon, she wasn't allowed over our house. My mother was a Slytherin, but she wasn't like that. She was different, and I think that's why my father took to her."

"Oh," said Albus.

"My father knows your mother, though," said Scorpius. "Said that she helped him figure his life out, in a way."

"How?"

Scorpius smirked. "Don't your parents ever tell you stories? They lived during the greatest war in wizard history!"

"Of course they tell me stories," said Albus. "They just…"

"Never tell you the whole truth?" said Scorpius. "Say they're going to tell you the entire story when you're older?"

"Well, it's supposed to be a dark story," said Albus. "And, besides, what's the fun of being a Potter child if you don't figure out the rest of the story on your own?"

Scorpius laughed. "You've found out then, I take it, about the Horcruxes?"

Albus nearly choked. "How do you know about the Horcruxes?"

"My father didn't want me to know all of the story," said Scorpius. "Back when I was seven, he wasn't going to tell me the rest of it. Said that he wasn't going to tell me until I was older, and left the story at 'Voldemort was defeated by Harry Potter'. Back then, I wasn't so simple-minded, and I asked my father for the version of his story that happened at Hogwarts."

"What's that got to do with Horcruxes?"

"My father's history was interesting," Scorpius continued. "In a way, it's hard to believe his way of life and your parents. They were completely different. He wanted to keep himself and his family safe, not caring to choose a side."

"So he just did what would keep him alive?" asked Albus. "I'd hardly call that interesting."

"My father's a brave man," said Scorpius, glaring at Albus. "It's not as if he had much of a choice! Voldemort took refuge at his house during his seventh year!"

"So he decided to ignore both sides?" said Albus quietly. "Create a neutral side where he doesn't care what happens?"

"He did whatever it took to ensure his safety," said Scorpius. "And he made sure that your father was safe as well."

"What're you talking about, Malfoy?" asked Albus.

"A group of Snatchers caught your father and your aunt and uncle while they were on their Horcrux search. They brought them back to Malfoy Manor. My father was asked to identify them, tell everyone who they were."

"But he didn't," said Albus quietly.

"Because he met your mother," said Scorpius. "He met your mother, and she asked him to protect your father and your father's friends. In exchange, she helped him escape what could have been a lifelong imprisonment in Azkaban. He was given community service instead."

"Thanks to my mum?"

"Thanks to your mum."

They were silent for a few minutes.

"Your mother helped him choose a side," said Scorpius. "My father lived in a gray world, and your mother helped him choose what he had known all along was the right side. It took a while for my father to realize it, but during the rebuilding period after the war, my father got together with your mother to talk about it. Your mother explained what love was, and my father finally understood that the Dark Lord's side had been wrong for him all along. He realized that, he wasn't doing what he needed to ensure that he, himself, survived. He was doing what was needed to make sure that those he loved survived, and that's what separated him from everything."

Albus was quiet for a moment. "What's this got to do with Horcruxes?"

Scorpius shrugged. "After my father finished telling his tale of Hogwarts, which, trust me, took a long time, he decided I was old enough to know how Voldemort had survived."

"How did your father find out?"

"Your mother explained to him. If it weren't for your mother, my father would never have met my mother, and they never would have realized their love for each other. That separates them from the Death Eaters."

Albus nodded. Professor Morgan walked in and took the essay off of their desk. "Very well," he said. "You two are dismissed."

Albus and Scorpius stood up. "Thanks, sir," they said in unison before walking out.

They were quiet for a bit. "Is that why you wouldn't talk to me at the beginning of the year?" said Albus.

"I'm not weak," said Scorpius, not looking at Albus but straight ahead. "My father, he was a bit weak during the war, but he got over it. My mother was never weak, and I'm not weak either. But…I guess I couldn't talk to you because…without your parents, everything would be ruined. I wouldn't be here. Don't bathe in their fame, Potter. You're not your parents, as I am not my parents either. However, I hope that you understand that our father's differences had been set aside. Sure, my father doesn't like the Weasleys or the Potters. He wants me to stay away from them. Honestly, I don't give a damn about what my father thinks. I'm sure you don't give a damn about it either."

Albus nodded. "So, then," he said. "I take it we're not enemies."

Scorpius laughed. "We're far from enemies, Potter."

Albus laughed. Soon, Albus had to go up the stairs, and Scorpius had to go the other way.

"I'll see you later, Scorpius." 

"Bye, Al."


End file.
